In Search of Perfumes: A Lifetime Journey to the Source of Nature’s Scents, by Dominique Roques. Editions Grasset & Fasquelle, 2021

Roques’s job was (is?) sourcing natural fragrance materials for high end perfume houses. He does this not just by sitting at a desk, but by going to the sites where the materials are gathered- to Provence for the very best lavender, Italy for bergamot, Andalusia for cistus tears, etc. Each chapter chronicles his visits to the producers- sometimes farmers of their own land, sometimes migrant workers, sometimes gatherers in the forests and jungles and deserts- one fragrant material per chapter. Most of the time, he writes not just about one trip, but several trips through the years, to see where the material comes from and how it’s harvested, to find out what the producers and gatherers need to survive and have good lives, because he doesn’t want to take advantage of the people, some of whom have lives that we’d consider very primitive. He doesn’t just make money for his clients and himself, but makes deals so the workers can have medical care and schools.

While the book wasn’t what I thought it would be- I thought it would be more about the fragrance materials- it was pretty interesting. I had never thought about how the people lived who gathered rose petals, or bergamot oranges, or the gums like cistus or frankincense. It’s good to know where the materials in those oh so expensive perfumes come from and what progress is doing to the areas they grow in!

 

The Perfume Collector, by Kathleen Tessaro. Harper, 2013

In 1955 London, Grace Monroe inherits a stock portfolio and a flat in Paris from Eva d’Orsey- a woman she has never heard of before. With her husband away on work (and possibly an affair), she goes ahead and flies to Paris to find out what she has inherited, along with who the mysterious d’Orsey is. With the aid of Monsieur Tissot, d’Orsey’s lawyer, she discovers Madame Zed, a former perfume creator fallen on hard times, living above a long deserted and boarded up perfume shop. She proves able to fill in some of what Grace wants to know, starting back in 1927. Slowly, the pieces of the story fall together.

The story bounces back and forth between 1955 and 1927, a duel story of young women growing up. Eva’s story isn’t an easy one; she left home to work at 14 and ended up being taken horrible advantage of; the full extent of what happened doesn’t come out until the end of the book. Grace’s story is a much easier one; she grew up in an insulated, wealthy household and doesn’t know much beyond being a nice girl and a good wife. But learning about Grace, and experiencing Paris, expands her horizons and allows her to become her own woman.

I enjoyed the book; the author’s descriptions of fragrances, fine foods, wines, and buildings were done with gemlike care. The big secret at the end I’d already figured out half way through the book, but that didn’t take away from it. I was really rooting for Grace, but even more so for Eva. 

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Coming to My Senses, by Alyssa Harad. Viking 2012

“Coming to My Senses” is a memoir of a short period of author Harad’s life, covering the time between her discovery of perfume blogs and shortly after her wedding. It is all about how perfume became not just an interest, but a passion, and how it changed the way she thought about herself.

Harad was a scholarly, feminist free lance writer who hated shopping and had no interest in feminine frills. Then she clicked by accident into some perfume blogs and got hooked on the descriptions of scent- what the perfumes contained, how they made the wearers feel. This struck a chord in her, and she started to find out more about perfume, and started using it. For a long time she kept her interest to herself, not wanting to be made fun of by serious minded people. But as she started bringing the subject up, she was amazed to discover that it was a love of many people- including those serious minded ones.

But it wasn’t just an interest or hobby. Wearing perfume started to change how she felt about herself. An elegant perfume made her want to change out of her boring work-at-home clothes and into something prettier. She started going to a gym, and feeling more in touch with her body, more balanced. Ultimately, it made her decide, after living for years with someone, that she wanted a girly wedding.

The book is a memoir, not a treatise on perfumes. It’s all about her relationship with the scents and with herself, not about the perfumes themselves, although she does write about a few of the perfumes and perfume components- it would be hard to write about perfume without giving some history. One thing that really disappointed me was that the author didn’t give the names of many of the perfumes she talks about. It would be fun for a reader to sniff perfumes and compare their reaction to what her’s was. And I really want to know what is the name of the one that is honey based and makes her husband follow her around the house?

The Secret of Chanel No. 5: The Intimate History of the World’s Most Famous Perfume, Tilar J. Mazzeo. HarperCollins, 2010

Chanel No. 5 is the world’s best selling perfume- and has been for decades. It’s been so popular for so long, in fact, that it’s actually become a sort of cultural icon- a symbol of luxury, capable of being recognized by the bottle shape, even by those who have never smelled the juice inside. This book is the ‘biography’ of No. 5.

I have a great interest in perfume, so I had high hopes for this book. As I made my way through it, though, I kept feeling like I’d read it before. I hadn’t, but I had read a biography of Coco Chanel a number of years ago. Unlike many modern fragrances which are created by committee (independent niche perfumes excepted), the story of No. 5 is closely tied to Chanel’s life. The majority of the story of No. 5 IS the story of Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel. It had great personal meaning for her; supposedly it combined scents from her past- rich flowers from around the convent school she grew up in, clean sheets, and the sweaty body of her great love, Boy Capel.

There are a great many myths out there about No. 5, and this book lays them to rest. It wasn’t the first perfume to use synthetic ingredients- not by a long shot. It wasn’t the first perfume to use aldehydes. And it wasn’t even a new perfume- it was a remake of one made for Russian royalty.

It’s an interesting story, how this one fragrance has held up all these years, despite business infighting, world wars, lack of (and even disappearance of) raw materials, terrible decisions, and changing tastes. But the book is repetitious- the author repeats the same facts chapter after chapter. It would have been a much better book had it been shorter. And it really never does discover the final secret- what is it about this scent that has made it survive so well?