![]() ![]() The mixture makes for a book that continually propels you to keep reading, either to find out more about Eva or to enjoy the escapades of Grace. While the story of Eva D’Orsey is heavier, far more distressing and complex, Grace Monroe’s timeline adds much-needed levity. ![]() The endearing devotion of the amusing best friend, the easy flirtation with a love interest, the delightful detective-novel-esque romp of following clues throughout the novel all keep a slice of lightness in every other chapter at the very least. The other thing that modulates the horrors of The Perfume Collector is a counterbalance of characters and moments that make you smile, especially in the story of Grace Monroe. You can hardly expect to read a book set in 1920s-to-1950s Europe and not be subjected to something nasty. It’s ghastly in places, but the ghastliness is built into the historical world building such that one generally adjusts and expects it. Streaks of gruesome war recollections, poverty, drug addiction, disturbing treatment and abuse of children, and various bigotry -isms (especially sexism - pointed a-woman’s-place-is-xyz remarks abound on every other page) run through the novel. The pain and sadness of The Perfume Collector is of the grisly kind common in novels set in the first half of the twentieth century. This was far less painful than the steady drip of prosaic heartbreak that was Erica Bauermeister’s The Scent Keeper. ![]()
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