Stelle Publications
ISBN: 978-0996058506
Published: Aug 24, 2014
Trade paperback, 308 pages
My Review
Reviewed by Laura Fabiani
Gabriella Contestabile has written a novel that truly captures the essence of perfumery and Florence. The story revolves around Elio, an artisan who lives with the regret of his unlived dream to create his special perfume. He's had the gift of smell since he was a child, and he studied two years in France as a youth but returned to Florence disillusioned.
The story begins with Elio as a man in his sixties but goes back and forth in time to his youth and we learn about the women in his past who influenced him in various ways: Elena, his Greek mother, who recognized his gift but left him with his father to return to Greece when he was only ten. As a mother, I could not understand this and I felt for Elio as a child. Then there was Palma, his teacher and French lover, who pushed him to learn but also exploited Elio's gift and naivete. Marina, feisty and unconventional was his first love and in some ways replaced the love he craved from an absent mother.
