Audiobook Review: The Perfumist of Paris by Alka Joshi
The Perfumist of Paris by Alka Joshi
Narrator: Sneha Mathan
Publisher: Harlequin Audio
Release Date: March 28, 2023
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
From the author of Reese’s Book Club Pick The Henna Artist, the final chapter in Alka Joshi’s New York Times bestselling Jaipur trilogy takes listeners to 1970s Paris, where Radha’s budding career as a perfumer must compete with the demands of her family and the secrets of her past.
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.
She has an exciting and challenging position working for a master perfumer, helping to design completely new fragrances for clients and building her career one scent at a time. She only wishes Pierre could understand her need to work. She feels his frustration, but she can’t give up this thing that drives her.
Tasked with her first major project, Radha travels to India, where she enlists the help of her sister, Lakshmi, and the courtesans of Agra—women who use the power of fragrance to seduce, tease and entice. She’s on the cusp of a breakthrough when she finds out the son she never told her husband about is heading to Paris to find her—upending her carefully managed world and threatening to destroy a vulnerable marriage.
The Perfumist of Paris follows Radha, Lakshmi’s younger sister. She lives in Paris with her husband Pierre and works at a perfume company mixing scents. She and Pierre have two little girls. Radha loves her job and sometimes works long hours. Pierre would rather she stay home and focus on their daughters.
*****This review has tiny spoilers for The Henna Artist*****
This book takes place in the 1970s when women were entering the work force en mass for the first time. France was behind America in accepting working women, which is one of the reasons Pierre was so against it.
If you’ve read The Henna Artist, you know that Radha gave birth to a baby boy when she was thirteen and placed him for adoption. One day, that boy, named Nicki, who is now a teenager, shows up at Radha and Pierre’s doorstep. The problem is that Radha never told Pierre about Nikki.
This book started out slowly – the first half was just Pierre and Radha fighting over her career. It got tedious. Things picked up once Nikki showed up at Radha’s house. Radha takes a trip back to India to look for new fragrances and we get to catch up with what Lakshmi and Malik have been up to.
Although not my favorite book of the series, I thought The Perfumist of Paris was a nice conclusion to The Henna Artist Trilogy.
Review of The Henna Artist (Book 1)
Review of The Secret Keeper of Jaipur (Book 2)
