Review: The French Perfumer
Gaby Meares
Iris Turner has worked for the civil service for seventeen years as a lowly typist. At thirty five, she has led an extremely sheltered life, and likes nothing better than settling into her cosy home after work with a good book and her cat in her lap. But she surprises herself by answering an advertisement for a shorthand typist to work for an English speaker in the South of France.
Iris leaves behind dreary post-war 1950s London for the bucolic French Riviera. The landscape might be breathtaking, but the people she finds herself among are not all they seem. As she struggles to find her feet with her employer Hammond Brooke, the titular perfumer, she discovers a web of intrigue, not to mention an unexplored gift for interpreting the meaning behind aromas. This is hinted at from the beginning of the book, for example a friend who ‘smells of generosity and kindness’, ‘the smell of pure hostility’ from another character, and Iris being ‘hit by the peppery odour associated with friction and discord’.
The French Perfumer is Hampson’s second novel, written in 2017. I read her most recent book, [b:The Tea Ladies|64625125|The Tea Ladies|Amanda Hampson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1670467565l/64625125.SY75.jpg|100001743], first. I can definitely see the development of her storytelling skills, but don’t let that deter you from reading this book. It’s full of colourful characters, and it kept me guessing right to the end.
Delightful.