The Perfumist of Paris

It should come as no surprise to anyone that I'm jumping in on this, the third book in the trilogy. I didn't have any real difficulty reading this as a stand-alone work, but I think there's a lot of good story in the first two books that I should go discover. If you haven't read any of the three, start at the beginning with The Henna Artist.

Radha and Pierre are married, living and working in Paris, raising their two daughters. Radha loves her work at the House of Yves with master perfumer Delphine, and hopes to one day become a master perfumer herself. Pierre struggles with his wife's career. It's the 1970s. Women working isn't a given, and he doesn't understand why she can't be content just staying home to be a wife and mother. His mother, Florence, is also a bit of a thorn in Radha's side. She worries that Florence wants to make her girls completely French, to take their Indian heritage away from them.

Radha receives an important assignment at work – her first solo project! Work on the project has her returning to India, where her sister Lakshmi gets her in to visit the courtesans of Agra, to learn their secrets of using scent to seduce and entice. Lakshmi also tells Radha that Niki, the baby Radha gave up for adoption when she was just thirteen years old, knows she is connected to him somehow and is heading for Paris to learn why.

Alka Joshi paints wonderful word pictures of her characters and the settings. And her descriptions of different scents almost made the book like smell-0-vision. I could easily imagine the scents Radha discovered on her trip back to India.

The characters are wonderful and sometimes infuriating. Sometimes my heart just ached for Radha and the burden she carried, the secret she kept from Pierre, and sometimes I wanted to shout, “But how much of this could have been avoided if y'all would just TALK to each other?!” That being said, I've never given a child up for adoption. It's easy for me to say but of course I'd tell my husband about it. But honestly, would I? I don't know.

It took me a minute to really get sucked in to the story, but the more I read, the more I liked. There were some surprises that I didn't expect, and they turned out to be marvelous. This is the kind of book where I felt like I was saying good-bye to friends when I finished. And as an adoptee who's found my own birth family, I could totally relate to Niki. The biggest difference is that I always knew I was adopted, and it was never a big secret. I can't imagine finding out like Niki did.

Betrayal by a trusted friend, women's rights, the sacrifices we make to balance work and life, lost love and family found, this book has it all. It's a five-star read for me.

Stop by my blog to read an excerpt: https://theplainspokenpen.com/book-review-excerpt-and-blog-tour-the-perfumist-of-paris-the-jaipur-trilogy-3-by-alka-joshi/

At 48% I yell yes! when Radha asks if it's her fault Nikki isn't the prince

Then a few minutes later I really appreciate the courtesan trying to shift Radha's perspective ‘it's not about you, it's about him'

Around 78% when Matilde meets Radha at her apartment and makes the secret of Nikki about her. Why? Why anger instead of compassion why a feeling of betrayal rather that curiosity? AND then we found out that Matilde and Pierre slept together.

I felt that it was a bit of a cliche, but ultimately makes sense: Matilde was really emotional (from putting her mother in a home, for feeling “betrayed” by Radha for sharing about Nikki and not being available recently), and Pierre seemed to feel a mix of overlooked and wanted to get back at Radha. I appreciate that that's not the main reason for Radha wanting to leave her marriage.

Also liked the view point of “some people are in your life for only a specific amount of time” and was open to repairing the friendship with Matilde.

I rather liked how the client turned out to be Ravi's (soon to be ex)wife. It was a neat way to tie everything together.

Nikki ends up discovering he has four half sisters.

What an amazing book! Honestly, the series has been such a joy to read. The author did such an amazing job looping every storyline together with twists and no plot holes at all. Many of the characters experienced extreme character development throughout the trilogy, but also from book to book. I never would've guessed the ending. And many of my least favorite characters ended up being my favorite characters at the end.

I wish there were more books for me to move onto that were readily available, but I am definitely looking forward to reading all of the works that Alka Joshi she has in mind. She's definitely one of my favorite authors and I recommend her books to anyone!

Her ability to describe a scene is unmatched and her word choice really made the story come off the page like I was right there next to the characters watching in real time rather than reading. I am going to miss these characters but would love more stories in spin-off from the children's point of view and as they make their way in the world. 10/10