Summary (from Goodreads):
When Marion Dutilleul enters the service of the Marquise de Montespan, she never imagines that her ability to recognize scents and to blend them into perfumes will win her the favor of Louis XIV's mistress. But the marquise quickly has the young girl creating new perfumes for her. Eager to please and hopeful that her olfactory gifts will win her recognition, Marion concocts memorable fragrances. Then, to her horror, credit is bestowed on someone else. Marion feels betrayed.
Now Marion opens her eyes and ears (in addition to her nose!) and realizes that beneath the splendor of palace life is a place teeming with deceit. To survive, she must use her keen sense of smell not to create perfumes, but to thwart those who would do her--and one of France's beloved monarchs--great harm.
My Review:
I thought this was a very well-constructed story overall. Marion, the main character, is a young girl in the court of the French King Louis XIV, and she is fairly believable as a character. The biggest problem readers will have with this story is lack of background information about the time period. Life in 1600s France is a fairly specific knowledge set, and many readers will have to do significant research to understand the grandeur and excesses of the setting. Without that background knowledge, the story will seem hyperbolic and unbelievable in certain places. Granted, there is some explanatory material at the end of the book, but it would be more helpful to come into the story knowing more about the time period, the perfume-making process, and the context of court behaviors and intrigues.
Read: January-March 2022
