History Lessons - The Perfume Garden

Perfume Garden - collage
Old letter and other scraps

There are many novels written today using multiple points of view to tell the narrative. In historical fiction it is quite common to have one voice be from the past and one from the present and along the story arc the two lines eventually connect and The Perfume Garden by Kate Lord Brown is one such novel. To be honest as a reader I'm getting a little tired of the format.

At the opening of the novel, dated September 11, 2001, we meet Emma Temple successful perfumer, head of a multinational business and pregnant. Unfortunately Emma has been hit with a triple whammy - the father of her child has just left her for another woman who is also a partner in the business, these two are negotiating to sell the company for big bucks, and her mother has succumbed to her battle with cancer leaving Emma with an unusual inheritance in the form of a wooden box of letters and the deed to a house in Spain.

 It doesn't take much to realize where all this is heading. Her former lover is in New York to finalize the sale of the company at a breakfast meeting to be held at Windows on the World when she finally tells him the news of her pregnancy. By the end of the day he will be among the missing. Emma needs to get away from it all and decides to take up residence in the house in Spain and that's where the setting of the story turns its focus. The house holds secrets that stretch back to the days of Spain's Civil War and many in the town think it is haunted.

Stop and Smell the Flowers -
collage and zentangle

What I do like about historical fiction is learning a bit of history that I didn't know much about. I can honestly admit that as a student I learned very little about the Spanish Civil War, but it is the central event of this novel. Many American and British men and women were compelled to go fight, provide medical assistance or report on the events (think of Hemingway). Emma's grandmother and great-uncle were two such people.

Emma begins to read her mother's letters while restoring the house, which reveals some of its secrets. Emma goes in search of people who will help her to untangle the mystery. I'll let you read the book for yourself to find the answer to Emma's quest.

One of her mother's letters included the following lines - "Make perfumes that remind people how wonderful it is to be alive. Because it is, Em, to be alive is glorious, and people need to remember that, and to stop and smell the flowers." (p.87) This is significant in so many ways. Here is a dying woman reminding her child of the beauty of life even when you are in the midst of death. This novel had death surrounding the characters in the form of war, yet each strove to live fully - to risk and to love. We need to remember daily to find the joy in life and yes it is there even on the darkest of days - you just have to look. You have to look at the small things because it is in those things that we see and feel the most joy, but they are the things that most of us take for granted and pass over. Keep your eyes open!