Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Apr 2015
336 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
High in the hills of Valencia, a forgotten house guards its secrets. Untouched since Franco's forces tore through Spain in 1936, the whitewashed walls have crumbled, the garden, laden with orange blossom, grown wild. Emma Temple is the first to unlock its doors in seventy years. Guided by a series of letters and a key bequeathed in her mother's will, she has left her job as London's leading perfumier to restore this dilapidated villa to its former glory. It is the perfect retreat: a wilderness redolent with strange and exotic scents, heavy with the colours and sounds of a foreign time. But for her grandmother, Freya, a British nurse who stayed here during Spain's devastating civil war, Emma's new home evokes terrible memories.
As the house begins to give up its secrets, Emma is drawn deeper into Freya's story: a story of crushed idealism, of lost love, and of families ripped apart by war. She soon realizes it is one thing letting go of the past, but another when it won't let go of you.
"While the premise of Brown's book certainly has roots in an emotional past, this novel unfortunately fails to take flight." - Kirkus
"At its core, this is a love story celebrating both romantic and parental love, a tale that fans of romantic women's fiction will enjoy." - Booklist
"I found myself bewitched by The Perfume Garden … a deliciously winding narrative that takes us into the heart of battle, the locked rooms of family secrets, and the alluring promise of finally finding true love." - Good Housekeeping (UK)
"The novel is beautifully constructed, with the characters' individual experiences gradually weaving together, and the events of the past unfolding to reveal aftershocks in Emma's present… Brown's pacing is exquisite, revealing each twist slowly and deliberately, leaving you gripped to the end." - The Bookseller (UK)
"The Perfume Garden swept me along with its interlinked stories of love and loss, heroism and hope. Beautifully written and researched this is an intensely atmospheric read, and a hugely enjoyable one." - Isabel Wolff, international bestselling author of A Vintage Affair
"Sweepingly romantic … heartbreaking at times; a vivid, gripping read." - Katherine Webb, international bestselling author of The Legacy
This information about The Perfume Garden was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Kate grew up in a wild and beautiful part of Devon, and was first published while at school. After reading Philosophy at Durham and Art History at the Courtauld Institute, she worked as an art consultant, curating collections for palaces and embassies in Europe and the Middle East. Kate was a finalist in the ITV's The People's Author competition 2009, and she has an MA in Creative Writing. She lives in the Middle East with her family, and is working on her next novel.
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