About this deal
The tension is obvious. Her daughters, Shanti and Asha are nine and seven years old. They live in two worlds, France and India, and are understandably confused about the dichotomy. Their architect father, Pierre Fontaine, is a rising star in his world. The more successful he is, the more he wants a stay-at-home wife and the more Radha resists, especially as she has been apprenticed to a company that makes perfume. Paris, 1974. Radha is now living in Paris with her husband, Pierre, and their two daughters. She still grieves for the baby boy she gave up years ago, when she was only a child herself, but she loves being a mother to her daughters, and she's finally found her passion—the treasure trove of scents. I came to this book with a lot of expectations, especially since the second one in the trilogy was so good.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review. Alka Joshi is a talent at the top of her game you do not want to miss!! The way the authors interact with the readers in the real and virtual world varies according to their personalities. We can categorize them into three from a reader's perspective. She extensively researched the perfumes in India and Paris to write this book. We can see her mentioning the importance of Kannauj in the Perfume map of the world. Although the time period is set many decades ago, I didn’t feel alienated from their issues. In some senses much has changed since the 1970s, but it remains true today that men and women alike struggle with the home-work life balance. It’s possible to “want it all” in the area of love, career and family, but there are limits to each arena. Radha pushes those limits, sometimes to their breaking points. The resolutions she finds are not always perfectly neat and tidy, but they are authentic to the character and the book series. But Radha has a dark secret kept from her husband, children and her friends. At 13 she gave birth to a son. The well-born rajahs of India sent their son, the child’s father, away and the infant was subsequently adopted. Years later, the boy, Niki, comes to Paris to find his birth mother, having found a trove of letters that tell him he was adopted by the couple who raised him.This trilogy is not like the usual fiction, which instantly draws you to the world of characters. It will take some time for the readers to get used to the world of Lakshmi and Radha, especially if you are not so familiar with the customs and traditions followed by Indian families. Radha got permission from the master perfumer to travel to India. Convincing Pierre that she needed to travel was another matter. He still had not learned to share the passion Radha felt for being given this opportunity. Pierre failed to celebrate this newfound opportunity with Radha. Reluctantly, he allowed her to go, though. Radha traveled to Shimla. She was meeting Lakshmi and going to the Courtesans of Agra where Lakshmi had sought refuge all those years ago when she had run away from her abusive husband. Who better to help Radha discover what fragrance she was missing than the courtesans? Just as Radha finally discovered the missing scent she was searching for, her past came barreling toward her. Everything Radha had thought she had buried deep inside her was suddenly and painfully present once again. How will Radha handle the emergence of the secrets she has been hiding for so long? Will Radha’s talent as a Perfumist finally be recognized? How will Pierre and her daughters feel about all this?
The Perfumist of Paris is a fast, immersive read about being true to yourself, finding your passion and accepting past mistakes. I would however recommend reading the trilogy from the beginning. What I loved about the book was the description of the smells and scents around us. Connecting every core memory to a scent was described beautifully. I related to it and made me think of every single person I loved and their smell. In the final installment of The Jaipur Trilogy, author Alka Joshi takes us on a multi-sensory journey from the perfumer labs of France to the night markets of India. A stunning portrait of a woman blossoming into her full power…this is Alka Joshi's best book yet!”—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye
Paris, 1974. Radha is now living in Paris with her husband, Pierre, and their two daughters. She still grieves for the baby boy she gave up years ago, when she was only a child herself, but she loves being a mother to her daughters, and she's finally found her passion--the treasure trove of scents.
The Perfumist of Paris by Alka Joshi was the last book in the Jaipur trilogy. What a moving and impressive endeavor this proved to be! Alka Joshi showed once again what a masterful storyteller she is. I enjoyed all three books in this trilogy but The Perfumist of Paris was my favorite by far. It took place in both Paris and India during the mid 1970’s. I listened to the audiobook that was well narrated by Sneha Mathan. Family life is a mixed bag with similarities and differences in opinion. It is these differences that make it more beautiful. It is inevitable for us to get ourselves adjusted to these differences. But if the partner starts to consider the better half condescendingly and the differences are more than the similarities, then it is a different ball game. If you have read The Henna Artist and The Secret Keeper of Jaipur, you will need to read The Perfumist of Paris for closure. But does it really provide that hug? There are also lots of references to characters from the other books so reading them first would be beneficial and we get to know more about the son Radha gave up as a young girl herself. Great on audio narrated by Sneha Mathan. It helps, but is not necessary, to have read Joshi’s first two books, The Henna Artist and The Secret Keeper of Jaipur.Lush descriptions and complex characters lead to a wholly satisfying conclusion to Joshi's stand-out Jaipur trilogy... Filled with the rich and evocative scents of India and Paris, this novel will transport readers." - Library Journal In 'The Perfumist of Paris', which is set in 1974, Radha - who's now thirty-two - is living in France with her husband Pierre and their daughters, seven-year-old Asha and nine-year-old Shanti. THE PERFUMIST OF PARIS is a stunning portrait of a woman blossoming into her full power. . . . Powerful and evocative as the attars from Radha's perfume lab, evoking India and France with equal beauty, this is Alka Joshi's best book yet!” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network, The Huntress, and The Diamond Eye Our story takes place in 1974, yet here we are five decades later and women the world over are still torn between motherhood and career. While it wasn’t my favorite of the series, I still enjoyed it, respected what she was trying to accomplish, and loved the way things ended for the characters I’ve come to know and love. If you enjoyed the other books, then you’ll like this one too.