Here’s the set-up for M.J. Rose’s The Book of Lost Fragrances, just $10.99 on Kindle:A Secret Worth Dying For …
Jac L’Etoile has always been haunted by visions of the past, her earliest memories infused with the exotic scents that she grew up with as the heir to a storied French perfume company. These worsened after her mother’s suicide until she finally found a doctor who helped her, teaching her to explore the mythological symbolism in her visions and thus lessen their painful impact. This ability led Jac to a wildly successful career as a mythologist, television personality and author.
When her brother, Robbie—who’s taken over the House of L’Etoile from their father—contacts Jac about a remarkable discovery in the family archives, she’s skeptical. But when Robbie goes missing before he can share the secret—leaving a dead body in his wake—Jac is plunged into a world she thought she’d left behind.
Traveling back to Paris to investigate Robbie’s disappearance, Jac discovers that the secret is a mysterious scent developed in Cleopatra’s time. Could the rumors swirling be true? Can this ancient perfume hold the power to unlock the ability to remember past lives and conclusively prove reincarnation? If this possession has the power to change the world, then it’s not only worth living for . . . it’s worth killing for, too.
The Book of Lost Fragrances fuses history, passion and suspense in an intoxicating web that moves from Cleopatra’s Egypt and the terrors of revolutionary France to Tibet’s battle with China and the glamour of modern-day Paris. This marvelous, spellbinding novel mixes the sensory allure of Perfume with the heartbreaking beauty of The Time Traveler’s Wife, coming to life as richly as our most wildly imagined dreams.
From the reviewers:
“Compelling… suspenseful tale. Once you catch a whiff, you will be enchanted”. – Associated Press
“Rose has entered another realm and written what is bound to be one of this year’s best books.” — Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“A time-defying journey filled with passion and danger…A kaleidoscope of memorable characters and exotic locales. Elements of both thriller and paranormal romance dominate, and the insights Rose offers on the methods and science of perfumery throughout history add a fascinating top note.” Shelf-Awareness.com
“Enthralling. A supple and elegant thriller. There is simply no more daring writer than MJ Rose, and her blisteringly original [novel] shows why.” Providence Journal
“A fascinating mystery with many twists and turns… combines intrigue with a touch of history and the art of exotic perfume.” – The Free-Lance Star
“Provocative…a sweeping sense of romance [and] history.” – Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Deliciously sensual…Rose imbues her characters with rich internal lives in a complex plot that races to a satisfying finish.” —Publisher’s Weekly (starred)
“An absorbing and thrilling ride through the centuries.” —Library Journal
“M. J. Rose’s multi-stranded plot skillfully hits all the right buttons, blending exotic settings, romance, and paranormal fantasy with political intrigue into a colorful story that would be right at home as a Hollywood thriller.” —New York Journal of Books
“A simmering brew that mingles the erotic sensuality of Patrick Suskind’s Perfume with the dark and timeless obsessions of Rider Haggard’s classic, She. M.J. Rose has once again again dipped into the deep flask of history and brought those rich aromas of the past back to life through the eyes of Jac L’Etoile, a woman who has mastered the scent of conflict, passion and danger.” —New York Times bestselling author Katherine Neville
“The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose is an amazing novel, an utterly engrossing thriller that weaves together reincarnation, ancient Egypt, international intrigue, and a lost book of fragrances. Elegantly written, with unforgettable characters and flawlessly realized international settings, here is a novel that will keep you up all night—and leave you with powerful feelings of revelation, wonder, and the infinitude of human possibility.” —New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston
“A bewitching brew of history and suspense, as well as a deeply felt love story that transcends time, The Book of Lost Fragrances had me spellbound from the very beginning, taking me from Ancient Egypt to Napoleonic France to the mordern day. This is a book full of delicious surprises, superb research, and brilliantly drawn characters that will live on in your heart long after you turn the last page.” —Anne Fortier, author of Juliet
“The Book of Lost Fragrances is one of those rare novels that reminds us of the beauty and enormous complexity of the human soul. The way Rose uses perfume’s evocative power is both intelligent and intriguing – triggering her characters memories of their current lives as well as memories of their past lives. This novel is a marvelous discovery.” —Javier Sierra
“The Book of Lost Fragrances resonates with spirit, blending myth with reality, tragedy with triumph, pain with joy. You’ll find yourself questioning everything you believe—and wanting more.” —New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry
“Clever, with beguiling characters; a wonderful mixture of suspense and pace and good old fashioned storytelling, and the research never gets in the way of the plot.” —Kate Mosse, author of Labyrinth, Sepulchre, and The Winter Ghosts
From the Author:
I was so lucky to be interviewed by NYT bestseller Katherine Neville about The Book of Lost Fragrances and wanted to share it here. – MJ Rose
Katherine Neville: I have to confess that part of why I was so drawn to THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES is that you and I share a fascination with telling stories that interweave multiple themes–romance, history, science, esoteric, mystery, etc. What do you feel is the challenge and great payoff of stepping off the edge like that?
M.J. Rose: I think it’s the ultimate challenge of any book, really– to make every one of those themes and elements you describe strike notes that feel true and surprising and human. But I guess the added challenge–and also the reward, if you’ve done it right–of ‘stepping off the edge’ with all those pieces in play is the hope that the notes work together to form a rich and resonant and emotionally satisfying chord by the time the book’s done. Even though this is a suspense novel, a lot of my friends have told me that the ending of THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES made them cry–to me that’s the ultimate compliment!
Katherine Neville: It’s often said that our sense of smell is our earliest memory. The earliest smell I could recall was ice on the branch of a tree, which may explain why I’ve always been captivated by stories like Hans Christian Anderson’s Snow Queen and the snow scenes and music in Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite.
Tell me about your own earliest recollections of scent, and how perhaps they motivated you to write THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES?
M.J. Rose: My mother wore only one perfume her whole life, Shalimar. And that fragrance, and the way it embodied my mother, figures in so many of my earliest memories. I was a very shy child, and when I first started school I always had a hard time when she got ready to leave. We had a routine. I’d cry. She’d take a handkerchief out of her pocketbook and give it to me to dry my tears. And then she’d go. But I’d still have that fragrant handkerchief. And I could still smell her. I suppose it felt that, as long as I had something that smelled of her, she was never too far away, and would always come back.
Despite the fact that my books are labeled suspense, at heart I think I’m a very emotional writer. I think there’s magic in how something as simple as my mother’s perfume on a white linen cloth could give me so much comfort. I believe you find a character’s heart when you discover what sight or sound or smell or taste moves them, or frightens them or makes them feel safe in the dark.
Katherine Neville: You and I both write what might be called Quest novels: the quest being the earliest tradition of literature. But in our books, instead of Parsifal questing after the Holy Grail or Jason seeking the Golden Fleece, or even Indiana Jones looking for the Lost Ark – we have female protagonists who are hunting for a mysterious object of universal power.
What do you feel are the drawbacks, the difficulties, or ultimately the advantages, of having a female protagonist in what was traditionally, until very recently, a “male genre?”
M.J. Rose: I’m not sure it ever occurred to me that I was challenging the status quo, to be honest! For instance, in this book, it seemed totally natural that Jac L’Etoile would take up the search for a 2000 year old fragrance and have as great a chance of finding her holy grail as her brother or any man would.
From first to twelfth grade I went to an all girl’s school. When there are no boys around it’s very liberating. It’s never about “only boys should do this” or “only girls should do this.” Instead it’s just, what are you interested in, what do you care about? So when I started writing I never questioned the role I was assigning to my female protagonist–I wish I could say I was taking a stand, but really it just felt very natural to me.
Katherine Neville: On a more personal level, PERFUME: I cannot wear it because it “pops” on me about 3:00 in the afternoon However, I collect it because I love the aromas, and I have my favorites that I love to smell, for various reasons. I have a collection, each reminds me of different phases of my life…
What are your favorites? Do you wear them or keep them to relish privately? How does your relationship with these scents connect with Jac, the protagonist in the new book, and the way her ‘destiny’ plays itself out in the course of the story?
M.J. Rose: Many of my favorites are vintage scents that are no longer available but of those that are, I’m partial to Vol de Nuit by Guerlain, Citrine by Olivier Durbano, Coromandel by Chanel, Musc Ravageur by Frederic Malle… But the one that’s become the most special for me is Âmes Soeurs, which translates as ‘the Scent of Soulmates.’ It was created by the amazing Frederick Bouchardy of Joya Studios and was actually inspired by this novel!
Jac wouldn’t exist if not for my love of scent, and (to go back to that idea of “quest” you mentioned earlier) a search I started about ten years ago to find my own “signature scent.” This led me deep into the fascinating world of fragrances, how they’re created, and I became obsessed with the idea of a woman so attuned to scent that she could be haunted by it.
M. J. Rose is the internationally bestselling author of eleven novels, including The Reincarnationist, The Memorist and The Hypnotist.
She is a founding board member of International Thriller Writers and the founder of the first marketing company for authors, AuthorBuzz.com. She lives in Connecticut and can be reached at www.mjrose.com
And here, in the comfort of your own browser, is your free sample of THE BOOK OF LOST FRAGRANCES by M.J. Rose: