The Perfumist of Paris by Alka Joshi

In Alka Joshi’s latest novel, a sweeping story of love, family and identity, it's Paris 1974 and Radha, Lakshmi's younger sister, has parlayed her talent for scent into a rising career in the hyper-competitive perfume industry, when the secret son she gave up for adoption arrives on her doorstep unannounced to complicate her life.

Paris, 1974. Radha, the younger sister who arrived in Jaipur in The Henna Artist and posed such a threat to the life Lakshmi made for herself catering to the wealthy palace women, is now 32, married and living in Paris.

After the pain of giving up her beloved Niki, the infant boy born out of wedlock when she was just 14, Radha has gone on to attend a private boarding school in Shimla studying math and chemistry. There, shortly before her graduation, she meets and falls in love with a young French architect named Pierre, who is doing research. Against her older sister Lakshmi's advice, Radha follows Pierre back to Paris where they marry and now have two daughters.

As a favor, Radha agrees to help out a friend's elderly grandfather in his perfumery. It is in this small Paris shop that her natural gift for scent is noticed and leads her to a position in the high-stakes perfume industry, where her talent for formulating just the right essence puts her on a path to sucess. Despite Pierre's frustration over her time spent at work, and the professional jealousies working against her as the rare woman in her field, Radha thrives.

But she has always turned back any outreach from Niki's adoptive mother Kanta--it's the only way she can keep her painful secret at bay. Her one concession--and only she knows--is the small vial she wears that contains the scent of rain--she has created this scent for her alone to remind her of Niki.

Then when she is on her first business trip back to India to research scents for a new commission, a young handsome 17-year-old arrives at her apartment in Paris and is looking for her. Pierre assumes the young Indian man is her cousin and invites him to stay.

When Radha returns home, she is in shock and doesn't know what to do. This long lost son had discovered letters his "mother" Kanta had sent to Radha but were returned unopened. Their existence piqued his interest--who was this mysterious woman in Paris? And what was her relationship to him?

About the author

Born in India, New York Times bestselling author Alka Joshi moved to the United States at the age of nine. She holds a B.A. from Stanford University and an M.F.A. from California College of Arts. She is the author of The Jaipur Trilogy.

Review

‘The Perfumist of Paris’ is a beautiful ending to The Jaipur Trilogy, full of evocative storytelling and exceptional writing! I am sad to know that my time with Radhi and Lakshmi is now at an end, as I would have spent many more hours in their company. I loved this book, firstly it's set in two of my favourite places - Paris and Agra, but it was the beauty of the characters and their stories that enthralled me! I sped through this book, inhaled the various fragrances and I was intoxicated!

Radha is now living in Paris and is working for a fragrance company, is married to a Frenchman Pierre and has two beautiful daughters. She adores her job working under the tutelage of master perfumer Delphine, but is caught in the age-old quandary of work versus balancing time spent with her family. She wishes that Pierre would understand that this was her passion and her desire to work doesn't mean she doesn't want to be with her family. When Radha is given her first major project as the lead designer, she enlists the help of her sister Lakshmi and travels to Agra. There she meets the courtseans that Lakshmi took shelter with earlier in her life. These women use scents to seduce, tease and entice and Radha wants to source scents that the French perfumists have never seen before. But while she is there, her past comes back, as her son who she gave up for adoption when she was 13 has turned up on her doorstep in Paris!

I loved returning to the world of Radha and Lakshmi and was delighted by this story. Radha is a brilliant character ahead of her time, both in France and India. I particularly liked her struggles with balancing work and home and her passion to become a master perfumer. The women of this family are strong, loyal and nuanced. I am sad that this is their final chapter. The strands of the story were all woven beautifully to create a spell-binding story that concluded in a very satisfying manner.

Let me know if you pick this book up!