Kathleen Tessaro

This novel interweaves the stories of Eva D'Orsey and Grace Monroe back and forth in time. Eva is a young girl working in a hotel in New York when she meets a variety of people that will impact her future; Madame Zed and Andre Valmont, perfumers, and "Mr. Lambert", of the English nobility but currently disowned and on the make. She learns about life and she learns some very hard lessons about people at a young age.

Grace Munroe is wife to a thoughtless man who learns she is the sole heir in show more Eva D'Orsey's will. Just as she learns of her husband's infidelity she receives a plane ticket to France and a letter from an attorney. She flies over to learn why this woman left her fortune to her. Of course the reader figures it out quite quickly but as the story bounces back and forth in time Eva's story unfolds and we learn that things are not as simple as they might seem.

I read this book in one sitting - I couldn't put it down. It captured me from the very first and I was just entranced with both Eva and to a lessor degree Grace. Eva was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but I think she did the best she could with the situations placed in front of her. She was a highly intelligent woman in a time that did not value intelligence in women - only their ability to be the perfect accent to a man.

Ms. Tessaro is one of those authors that writes in a way that makes you forget you are reading; you enter the world of the characters and you do not want to leave. The world around you just disappears and you have found yourself in a place where you see what they see, taste what they eat and in the case of this book, smell the perfume in the air. When you stop reading it's like you have come out of a trance. These books are few and far between but I've been fortunate enough to have now read two in a row from great writers. Lucky me! show less

I was pleasantly surprised by this novel set in Depression-era Boston. Maeve, the heroine, has plenty of demons to wrestle - she's run away to New York City before, been institutionalized after a suicide attempt, and manages to get her hands on a lot of alcohol during the Prohibition era. When she takes a position at an antiques shop, she gains entry into the world of the Boston elite, whose members may be facing challenges not all that distant from her own. An excellent book and a show more compassionate perspective of mental illness. show less

3.5 stars is more accurate. This certainly isn't great literature, but this is a fun read, mostly I think for women.

Louise is a frumpy American from Pittsburgh, married to a minor British actor, and facing an insurmountable problem in her marriage. When she stumbles across an outdated book on how to achieve elegance, she finds the advice useful in helping her take control of her life and make some significant changes.

As she describes Louise's evolving life, Tessaro begins each chapter with show more a relevant excerpt from what was a real book titled ELEGANCE. It's fun to see how dated advice from the 1960's actually still retains some relevance today. And Louise's transformation is an entertaining story in itself. Lots of humor. Quite enjoyable. show less

Accidentally re-read this beautiful book and was reminded of all the reasons I had loved it years ago-- in a different country under an alternate title. The tale awakens a sense not often explored in print, using words to illustrate a fantastical scent experience, enticing the reader with the possibility of an olfactory apothecary, we come to our senses.

Told across to parallel stories-- in 1920s New York and Monte Carlo, and 1950s London and Paris-- the themes of freedom, independence, and show more personal history are explored. Where do we come from, and how crucial is this to what we are to become? We hope for the freedom to be who we aspire to be. show less