Author: Maggie Alderson
ISBN: 978-1-4607-5121-3
RRP: $32.99
Maggie Alderson is an author whose work I was unfamiliar with but I’m generally pretty open to new reading experiences. The synopsis for this one sounded interesting and at the time it came up as a book club option I was reading about the building of a lipstick empire so the idea of reading a novel based around perfume was intriguing.
I have had a pretty big couple of weeks and I started this book on my way to the airport to pick up my little sister and littlest nephew, so with extra people in the house and spending family time there wasn’t a lot of reading time. I was reading in fits and starts and small bursts but I just couldn’t seem to immerse myself, a week in and I was still only at about 100 pages.
Polly is quite happy with her life; she is happily married with 2 children off at uni, a successful perfume blog and a home yoga studio she teaches in. A week before Christmas her husband disappears claiming to need some space and everything changes.
The story is told through dated chapters that take us through events as they happen with Polly and blog posts, complete with comments.
Happily married for twenty-four years Polly is blown away by the sudden departure of her husband, with no means of contacting him and no real understanding of what’s happening. Learning to navigate through these changes Polly makes some new friends and adjusts her life.
Perfume is heavily featured throughout the story, there is a lot of history which is quite interesting and an analysis of what seems like every scent Polly comes across. My sense of smell is not well developed and I’m hopeless at deconstructing what I can smell so at times this aspect of the book did go right over my head. I can’t differentiate between top notes, base notes or anything in between; perfume is perfume and I like it or I don’t. The in-depth detail of all things nose related did get a little tedious for me but the big picture storyline made up for it.
The blog posts were interesting in that they took an aspect of life and broke it down into scent associations and then offered perfumes that related, this is how Polly experiences her life.
Polly is stuck in a situation she has no control over, Dave has asked that she not try to contact him and she doesn’t speak to anyone about what’s going on. Apart from the fact that this is a ridiculously unfair situation to be put in, it makes it difficult for Polly to spend time with her friends.
Navigating this strange new reality sees Polly making new friends; friends she doesn’t need to explain the absence of her husband to. Time passes and Polly finds herself slowly creating a new life with the friends she has made along the way, and an old flame she hasn’t seen since her university days.
Polly’s children may be grown and off at university but this situation is still enough to throw them off kilter. It’s one thing for your parents to split up, as a child or an adult, but in this case the not knowing what’s actually going on makes it much harder to deal with. The fact that their father is not in touch with them either makes things especially difficult.
The cast is an interesting mix of characters; Polly is quite conservative and quiet, she keeps to herself a lot though has shared quite a bit of her life with the world on her blog. She is keeping her current situation quiet but a lot of personal information is readily available online about her life and her family. This makes the contrast between herself and her new friends even more noticeable. Shirlee is one of her yoga students, a lovely lady who is loud and seems unable to understand boundaries. Guy is a new perfumer who is very secretive about his personal life and past but also wildly talented, if far from subtle. Edward ‘Chum’ Cliddington, her old friend from uni is a refreshing blast from the past who offers an escape from current reality with conversation about the old days, someone whose life may or may not be as complicated as Polly’s if they ever talked about it.
The Scent of You is a story of finding yourself when all you thought you had is turned on it’s head. I enjoyed the story once I got involved but I still found it very drawn out. I think lovers of the heady world of perfume will enjoy all of the background info and history. I felt for Polly through most of the story but there were times that I couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking.
The characters were vivid and the storyline interesting though I found that everything scent related was explored in great depth and some of the elements of the story seemed a little more glossed over.
The Scent of You is published by Harper Collins and is available now through Angus & Robertson Bookworld, Booktopia and where all good books are sold.
Thanks to Harper Collins 25 of our Beauty and Lace Club members will be reading The Scent of You so please be aware there may be spoilers in the comments below. I look forward to finding out what our readers thought.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!
Thank you Beauty and Lace and Harper Collins for the gift of this book.
From the perfume bottle on the cover to the very last ‘blog post’ I was in love with this book.
I adore perfume and have well over 50 bottles. Not a day goes by that I’m not wearing perfume.
So I really adored the whole perfume voyage that this story took us on.
The idea of adding Polly’s blog to each chapter was a great way to give us a little more depth into the character and what she was actually thinking and feeling.
This is a story about life and the not so perfect world in which we can find herself.
The husbands story was certainly a shock and one that I’d never expected so that was quite different and unique.
I loved Polly’s mother and can I say now that I want to go into a nursing home like that when the time comes.
Each of the characters in the story and strong characters that blend together really well and seem to support each other in the story and in the story line.
So many little bits of friends and family members I saw in each person and I had quite a giggle when I discovered some friends traits.
Oh how I wanted to google when Polly wouldn’t google. (you’ll get it when you read the book)
This is a beautiful read that will make you stop and smell the roses and everything else around you.
At 502 pages it’s quite a long story but one that you won’t want to end. You will get so involved in this story and not want it to end but the ending was just so perfect and tied everything up so well.
Thank you Beauty and Lace for letting me review The Scent of You by Maggie Alderson.
The book revolves around Polly a perfume blogger, her blog is called Fragrant Cloud.
Polly is a middle aged woman who has been married for many years with two children called Clemmie and Lucas who attend university.
She is shocked when one day her husband leaves for no reason except to say that he needs time. Her children are concerned for both their mother and father of course.
Slowly she starts letting new people into her life and they are some interesting characters. I loved that Maggie had a way of writing about scents throughout the book and the different memories they provoke.
It is a big book and I truly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it to other readers.
Thank you for letting me review The Scent of You by Maggie Alderson. I enjoyed the story which was different from anything I have read before.
Polly is a perfume blogger and yoga instructor, married with 2 children, Clemmie and Lucas, who are away at University. Her husband David suddenly decides he needs time away via email and for Polly not to contact him for 6 months. Polly is upset, but accepts he is overseas for work, and tries to get on with her life as best she can.
She makes friends with one of her yoga students Shirlee who is loud and out there, but a good friend. Another new friend is Guy, who she met by walking into his perfume shop and they bonded over the scents he produces himself. He is quite mysterious and does not give up his secrets easily – luckily he’s good fun to be around. Her children are quite shaken up the longer their father is absent, and it’s great to see how their relationship with Polly changes and grows. Her mother is in a glamourous nursing home and through another person there Polly runs into an old University friend Chum and they have great talks and walks with their dogs. This leads to Polly questioning her feelings and how this relationship can fit into her life.
I enjoyed when she started investigating her husband’s disappearance as there was more action and we got to see the characters and story develop. When we find out more about a few people there are some surprises which I always enjoy. I like how most of the story ends, but there are a few loose ends – or that’s how I felt.
We get excerpts of Polly’s blog which are interesting as we get to see how she sees life and how scents influence a lot of what she goes through. Some of the intricacies of perfume went over my head, but would be great for anyone with a bit more knowledge.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and got into it even more as the story progressed.
I recently read this book and enjoyed the style of writing. I’ve always associated certain scents with certain people and find comfort in certain smells.
I enjoyed learning all about perfume too.
I did find this a long read and zoned out towards the end…up until the ‘reason why David left’….that was bizarre and disturbing!
Some interesting secondary characters and I now have a new view on perfume.
X
Im someone who quite openly calls myself a perfumeaholic. I have an extensive perfume collection so I was really excited to read a book that had perfumes and scents as its running theme.
Polly the main character in this book was someone I felt I could be good friends with but at the same time Im sure there would be times that she would drive me crazy as she did while I read. There were times I felt frustrated and I found myself saying “I that was me …I would……” Polly was in one of those situations where something major happens in her life with her husband just up and leaving without any warning but not leaving as in “We are over” but leaving as in “I need time away alone to think”…. Now if I had been Polly I would have instantly changed the locks, bank account access, etc and I would have openly told everyone that he had just taken off to goodness knows where. He had of course asked her not to tell anyone… phft…I wouldnt have been following his rules at all. So of course Polly is dealing with this and also trying to cope with her son who is handling his Father up and leaving very hard to handle. But when it rains it pours and more stresses and strains happen in Polly’s life which is always the way.
I loved how the story included Polly’s blog posts from her perfume blog and the descriptive aroma posts. At times certain perfumes were mentioned that I have myself so I would dash off to my perfume collection to spray a little of which ever perfume was being mentioned. So this book became more of just a read but it was also a very aromatic reading experience for me. It also mentioned a few perfumes that I am now interested to sniff out.
This book is a good 500 pages long and it accompanied me to various medical appointments. I loved reading it even though there were times I wanted to slap Polly.
The title of the book appealed to me so much. I love perfume, blogs and was really excited to read this one.
The main character is on an amazing journey of self discovery. Her journey is hard and filled with beautiful blog entries about perfume which broke up the book a little which i liked. Lots of interesting characters and a suprise ending make this book well worth the read.
“Scent of you” was a very long read. Though I did enjoy the main characters interpretation of different perfumes, I really struggled to enjoy this book.
Polly finds herself alone when her husband David decides to have a break with their relationship without a reason why.
Polly is left confused and angry as are her adult children. The discovery by the family, as to why David has left his family, I found awkward to say the least.
I finally finished reading this book, and I loved it. I found the perfume stuff very interesting and I just had to keep reading to find out what happened to David. Maggie Alderson is a wonderful author.
I was already a fan of Maggie Alderson’s work. I knew I would love this book when it opened with a poem by Rumi. I was not disappointed.
“The Scent of You” is Polly’s story. A perfume blogger whose life is turned upside down by the actions of her husband.
Polly evolves from someone whose life was dominated by her husband. She’s allows people into her life and into her heart. As she does, she softens slightly. She rediscovers herself and creates new stronger relationships
Throughout the novel, there are blog entries from Polly’s perfume blog. This gives an added dimension to this tale
I would highly recommend this book when you want something not too heavy to read over a weekend. It is liking having a cup of tea with old friends that you are comfortable with
The Scent Of You by Maggie Alderson is an interesting and enjoyable read. Polly, the main character, is a middle aged perfume blogger with two grown up kids, a mum who lives in a glamorous retirement “apartment” ( nursing home). and a husband who has just up and left her and her adult children saying he needs time away via email.
This is something Polly doesn’t understand. At first she tries to cope with what she sees as a betrayal. She eventually starts an investigation of her own and when she finally finds out why her husband had really left it’s a complete shock and one I didn’t see coming either.
Along the way Polly meets and makes new friend s and even rekindles an old friendship.
It did take me awhile to read this book but it was worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Polly and her family. I also learnt more about scents from Polly’s Perfume blog. As a person who sticks to the same two perfumes. It was interesting to learn what the perfume you wear can say about you..
Congratulations Maggie Alderson on another fantastic read., and thank you to Beauty and Lace for giving me the opportunity to read and review this novel.