The Perfume Garden

by Kate Lord Brown

An acclaimed international bestseller, The Perfume Garden is a sensuously written story of lost love, family secrets—and the art of creating a perfect scent.

High in the hills of Valencia, a forgotten house guards its secrets. Untouched since Franco’s forces tore through Spain in 1936, the whitewashed walls have crumbled, and the garden, laden with orange blossom, grows wild. Emma Temple is the first to unlock its doors in seventy years. Emma is London’s leading perfumier, but her blessed life has taken a difficult turn. Her free-spirited mother, Liberty, who taught her the art of fragrance making, has just passed away. At the same time, she broke up with her long-time lover and business partner, Joe, whose baby she happens to be carrying.

While Joe is in New York trying to sell his majority share in their company, Emma, guided by a series of letters and a key bequeathed to her in Liberty’s will, decides to leave her job and travel to Valencia, where she will give birth in the house her mother mysteriously purchased just before her death. The villa is a perfect retreat: redolent with the exotic scents of orange blossom and neroli, dappled with light and with the rich colors of a forgotten time. Emma makes it her mission to restore the place to its former glory. But for her aging grandmother, Freya, a British nurse who stayed in Valencia during Spain’s devastating civil war, Emma’s new home evokes memories of a terrible secret, a part of her family’s past that until now has managed to stay hidden. With two beautifully interwoven narratives and a lush, atmospheric setting, Kate Lord Brown's The Perfume Garden is a dramatic, emotional debut that readers won’t soon forget.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Romance, Spain, Book Club, Historical Romance

336 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

THE GOLDEN HOUR - 2025

Welcome to 30s Cairo, an epic and intimate story of friendship, survival and love.

Kate grew up in the wild and beautiful Devon countryside. After studying philosophy at Durham University and art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art, Kate gained a MA in Creative Writing.

Reviews

[Ashley Daviau · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book! I'm a big fan of historical fiction and it was refreshing to read a story set in a period I'm not familiar with. I'm also a big fan of family secrets and this book most definitely had heaps of that! I also quite enjoyed that it flipped from past to present, it made the book go by quite quickly. And I really enjoyed learning more about the art of perfume as it's something I know nothing about and have never encountered before in a book.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seduced by the cover, cheated on by the book.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this one a lot! It's refreshing to read historical fiction set in a time period/event I'm not very familiar with like this one was. It's historical venue is mainly Valencia, Spain during the Spanish Civil War. The characters, both historical and modern, were interesting. I also appreciated that the modern story was set in 2001 and touched on something that is a defining moment for all of us living at that time. It's a book about strong women raising strong women. I love Liberty-- even though she's not actually present much, her presence is felt through what she leaves for Emma in the black lacquer box. Wonderful things in there;) I would love to have one full myself!

Would read more of her work and recommend it to others:)

[Jeffrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh dear, I really wanted to like this book and the marketing blurb is terrific, just terrific.

But the writer fails to deliver the promise of the book.

Here we have the stage setting for a fab novel: Spain, war, drama, names and names...a house in the hills - and poor writing and craft let's it all go to waste.

If a writers gives us alternating chapters past and present - they cannot expect us to engage or root for the characters. And I didn't. I just didn't care by the end.

Super research - some skilled ideas - but not worth what this reader paid for it and I won't buy another by Ms Brown.

[Marcia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was tricked into reading this book by it's enticing cover and deceiving description. It promised to be a riveting read about survival, life and death in Spain during the revolution. Not having read many novels about the Spanish revolution (other than The Shadow of the Wind which was exemplary), I was excited to enjoy some historical fiction that hopefully had some facts sprinkled in.

Unfortunately, the dialogue was childish and the characters undeveloped. The protagonist Emma was annoying and boring. It almost seemed as those the author read a Wikipedia article about the Spanish revolution and then worked those facts into random parts of the dialogue. There was no seamless weaving of fact and fiction to be had.

Some of the cringe worthy writing included:

A woman with a dark veil turned and pursed her lips "Shh". Emma's reverie broke, and she met his gave for the first time. She felt like she had come to the end of a long journey.


and


"(...)Don't bother dressing on our account, Luca," he said, raising his eyebrows at Emma. "Not bad for an old man, eh?"
"Who are you calling an old man?" Luca laughed.
"What do you think, Emma?" Guillermo leaned toward her.
Luca glanced back at her as he walked away. "Are you two checking out my ass?" He smiled as he stepped into the cool shadows of the apartment.



Much of the dialogue did not match the tone of the novel, or rather, the tone that the writer was attempting to convey. Even the descriptions of the atrocities that the Republicans suffered through post-war were boring and bland, characters reciting terrible things that had happened. It seemed as though true emotions were never plumbed or even slightly conveyed in any manner.

Emma ended up seeming vapid and boring. Her anger over being cheated on felt fake and insincere. All of her emotions seemed to be a bit robotic and there was no encompassing sensation of love or anger or hatred that seemed to have any PASSION.

If this novel hadn't been about the Spanish war and the consequences that followed...If it had been a simple romance without any promising back story, it would perhaps have been more palatable. Instead, I was left feel cheated by a novel that seemed to lack any genuine emotion.


2/5 and don't bother.

[DubaiReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good in parts.

Although this book opens brilliantly with a scene between the two famous war reporters that made up Robert Capa, it quickly degenerated to something rather mediocre, with chapters that were too short to really get the feel of the characters. With each chapter ending we switched again, either back to the Spanish Civil war of the 1930s, or forward to the modern day, 2001.
The historical section was fascinating and I learned a lot, but I felt that the 2001 thread was merely a tool by which to reveal the events of the past. I would have loved to have had the book set entierly in the 1930s. The descriptions of the refugees streaming into France, the fate of the Spanish children and the Brigades of foreign nationals fighting for a cause were excellent.

Two characters link the past and the present - Freya, a volunteer nurse, and her brother, Charles, who has joined with the Republicans as a journalist, hoping to let the world know about the atrocities.
In the current time period, Freya is Emma's grandmother and Charles, her Uncle.
Liberty, Emma's mother has recently died and left her daughter the key to a villa in Valencia, Spain, and a box of letters. Emma is also suffering a second loss and hopes that a move to Spain might help her 'find herself' again.
This modern day section was markedly weaker. I didn't get the feel of Emma as an outsider, nor did I sense that she and the Spanish villages were speaking a different language. How did Emma come to be so fluent in the language that there were no misunderstandings? This was topped with a finale that was quite unbelievable and let the book down with a crash. Even the house didn't feel like the same place, in 2001 it seemed to be a mansion of rooms, yet during war it felt more homely and cramped.

I would have liked to have scored this 3 1/2 stars as I did enjoy parts of it and I learned about a period of history that I had not read about before, but I would not particularly recommend it.

[Aneca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I may have found one of my favourite books of 2012 in Kate Lord Brown's The Perfume Garden. I read it for Historical Tapestry, loved it and had a hard time writing my review because it seemed I kept on writing and writing. I ended up heavily editing my review but I kept thinking about the book and what I wanted to say. What follows is an adapted and expanded version of that review.


I have always been interested in historical fiction! While nowadays I read more British historical fiction, while I was growing up my readings where about Portuguese and Spanish history. Spain is our next door neighbour, the Spanish, as we like to call them are nuestros hermanos, our brothers, and in fact it is impossible to read about one country's history without touching the other. The similarities go on to the point where we both had a right wing dictatorship during most of the 20th century. Ours ended with a revolution and theirs with a peaceful transition but if I was to say what was the main difference between us it would be that Spain had a Civil War and we didn't.


I don't know when my interest in that particular period in Spain started, maybe by reading some of Hemingway’s books, maybe by seeing and hearing about Frank Capra's photographs... it isn't your usual historical fiction setting, that is for sure. When I found out that it was going to be the background of this book I immediately put it on my WL.


And now here I am looking at the computer screen and typing away this review and there are so many things on my mind that it is difficult to decide where to start... I guess I could start by saying that I loved reading this story! It is not an easy, light read but it is an evocative and very satisfying read and when I finally closed the book all I could think about was how I wanted to start researching the period, how I wanted to find the people mentioned and what their fate was... But don't you go on thinking that this is a history book. In fact it is far from it. But Kate Lord Brown manages to give so many details and include so many real people in the story that I found myself eager to confirm what was real or not and to find out more about the people mentioned.


There are two stories in The Perfume Garden. The story of Emma, set in 2001, and the story of Freya (Emma's grandmother), Rosa and Macu, set in 1937. Emma is going through a difficult period in her life. She separated from her long term boyfriend after finding out that he was cheating on her with a close friend and business partner. Her late mother left her company to the three of them and they are planning to sell it. To make matters worse when her mother died Emma and Joe gave in to the unresolved feelings between them and Emma is now pregnant. When Joe is killed on 9/11 Emma feels it is time to make a fresh start and prepare to receive her baby. Armed with a box of letters that her mother wrote to be opened after her death she decides to move to Spain, to Valencia, where her mother left her a house, the Vila del Valle.


In 1937 Freya and her brother Charles are in Spain to help fight fascism. She is a nurse caring for the wounded on the Republican side and he is a photographer and a soldier. It's through their eyes that we see many of the famous characters of the time: Hemingway, Capra, Gerda Taro... all fascinating people who were risking their lives fighting for a cause they believed in and to tell the world what was happening in Spain. In fact some of them lost their lives doing just that... Rosa is Jordi del Valle's girlfriend, she has fought with him in Madrid for the Republican side but she is pregnant and he decides to take her to Valencia and leave her in the care of his brother Vicente. Macu is there to help her around the house and they form a friendship that will later include Freya.


In modern day Valencia, Emma realises that there is some sort of secret about the house she is now living in and renovating. Her grandmother Freya doesn't want to talk about the house or about the time that she spent in Spain, and the people she meets in Valencia also don't seem too eager to tell her about who lived in the house. At the same time, the woman that Joe left her for, finds out that she is pregnant and decided to follow her to Valencia.


I have to say that I was much more interested in what was going on in 1937 than what was going on with Emma. But the author managed to take Emma on a journey about rediscovering her roots and it was as if I was right there with her finding out, bit by bit, what had happened to Rosa and Jordi and Macu. When Emma finds Macu, she doesn't realise that she is the one that can tell her all the secrets, she and Freya, but we do. And I kept hoping that they would finally sit down and actually talk about the past, especially when Emma starts to realise that those secrets have something to do with her. And in Valencia she finds her past but also her future.


This is a book about women. The main characters are all strong female figures and I think Kate Lord Brown successfully makes us understand the important role that women had in the conflict. I think it is clear she did a huge amount of research both about the war and what happened afterwards.


I highly recommend this book to everyone who likes a good story with strong female characters and I especially recommend it to those with an interest in modern Spanish history. The Civil War and what happened afterwards are still open wounds in Spain's society. I don't think that having a "pact of silence" about it helped. The victims and their families deserve to be remembered, not forgotten. And keeping the memory alive, in historical records as in historical fiction, is one way to prevent the past from repeating itself.


Grade: 5/5


***
Adapted and expanded from my review at Historical Tapestry

[Mieneke · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first time I became aware of Kate Lord Brown was when I read Liz's review for her last book The Beauty Chorus. That story sounded amazing and since I've been fascinated by WWII since I was a little girl and my dad read me books set in that era, it seemed like something I'd love. While I still need to get my hands on a copy of The Beauty Chorus, when I was looking through Corvus' catalogue for my anticipated reads posts for the first half of this year, my eye was immediately caught by Lord Brown's name when I came to The Perfume Garden. The subject of this book interested me at once, as it's a time very unfamiliar to me. Even in secondary school history the Spanish Civil War was part of the larger picture of the run up to WWII and we never got further than dates and the fact that there were foreigners fighting for both sides. And while I still don't know much beyond the basics for the political reasons for the conflict, I have learnt more about what it was like for the people involved.

The Perfume Garden switches between two timelines. One is set in Civil War Spain and tells the story of Freya, Charles and Rosa, while the other is set around and just after 9/11 and tells Emma's story as she deals with some devastating losses and rebuilds her life. With alternating storylines, or in this case timelines, often one of the storylines grabs me more than the other and I find myself reading through the less-immersive one to get to the one that's more compelling to me; not so with The Perfume Garden. Both timelines are equally grabbing and I enjoyed them both, but for very different reasons. Emma's story is one of loss and love and of finding yourself again after having your feet swept from underneath you. Her grief at not just the loss of her mother, but the simultaneous break-up with her partner of ten years, who she thought was the love of her life and his later demise in the attack on the Twin Towers, is raw and I felt if it hadn't been for her baby and the house in Valencia, Emma would have been completely at sea. As it is, the house grounds her and keeps her going. The love story between Emma and Luca is lovely and convincingly done. You feel that they both feel that the other is a new chance at happiness, but the fear of getting hurt again is keeping them apart. I loved this slow dance which ended in a stunning finale. However, Emma doesn't just fall in love with Luca, she falls in love with Valencia and this love story is rendered as vividly as the former. As a perfumier, Emma thinks in scents and this aids in creating the vivid descriptions of her surroundings, you can almost smell the flowers in the garden and taste the food they eat at the De Santangel family finca.

Freya's story is one that is far darker, as it is set during the Civil War. Freya volunteers as a nurse and sees some awful things, as does her brother Charles who is embedded as a journalist with the Republicans. Lord Brown manages to conjure up the almost claustrophobic feeling the Republicans are put through as they need to be always on their guard against being caught by the Nationalists, whether during battle or through being denounced. The latter is something that is shown largely through Rosa's story. But despite all the harshness and horror of the Civil War, Lord Brown also puts in some light notes of hope, such as Freya's romance with a Canadian doctor and Charles' camaraderie with the journalists and photographers the cover the Civil War, among whom are Ernest Hemingway and Robert Capa. These notes of hope are important in a story, which we know won't end well—in the end, the revolutionaries are beaten and Franco remained in totalitarian power for another thirty-five years.

The Perfume Garden tells very different stories of motherhood. I loved the portrayal of the relationship between Emma and Libby, which was loving and one between equals, where Libby gave Emma the freedom to be as successful as she could be. We don't see much of Freya as a mother to Libby, other than as sense that Freya has always been protective of Libby and she's done everything to keep her safe. All three women were single mothers, though perhaps only Libby was so by choice. But for both Freya and Emma, their daughters are anchors, a reason to live and to live well.

Beyond the mother-daughter and romantic relationships we see, there are other bonds that are as important and fulfilling. There is the deep friendship between Rosa, Freya and Macu, which forms in the hardest of circumstance, but is almost unconditional and in the end life-saving. I particularly loved Charles and the sibling bond between Charles and Freya. In both timelines you can see how much they love each other and I loved their rather wry exchanges. Their bond is unbreakable even when hurtful secrets are revealed and lies discovered. There is a lot of love in The Perfume Garden, love in many guises, but it is love that moves the characters in this book, whether for good or for bad.

The house in Valencia and its mysterious connection to the Temple family is at the heart of the novel. It is there that The Perfume Garden comes to life and where it is at its most vivid, both during the Civil War and in the early years of this century. I loved this book, its fabulous characterisations and indulgent, atmospheric writing. I could smell and taste Spain while reading its pages and I was sad to close the book; sad to leave the characters behind, but satisfied at the ending. The Perfume Garden is a historical fiction novel set in an interesting and uncommonly cruel era, with both a mystery to solve and a dash of romance. The book is published by Corvus and will be released in the UK on June 1st. I highly recommend you give it a chance. Me, I'll be putting The Beauty Chorus on my birthday wish list. This was my first encounter with Kate Lord Brown's writing, but it surely won't be my last!

This book was provided for review by the author.

[Amina Hujdur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ovaj roman je zasnovan na historijskim zbivanjima u Španiji za vrijeme Građanskog rata, koji je bio svijevrstan uvod u II svjetski rat i nacističko-fašističku propagandu.
Spoj prošlosti i sadašnjosti, potrage za identitetom i ostali popratni motivi su me podsjetili na romane Lusinde Rajli.
Neću otkrivati detalje, ali je za moj istančan ukus, roman je ugodno i pozitivno iznenađenje.
Guglala sam podatke o Valensiji i njenom padu, o dobrovoljcima iz cijele Evrope koji su se borili u tom ratu. Ljubavna pozadina je začinila i zaokružila radnju.
Od mene preporuka. 👍

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Judging from the title and the book's cover, you could be forgiven if you thought that this was a (excuse the pun) flowery romance novel.

But once you start reading, you'll realise that this book is deeper than that. It weaves between the past and the present, and shows how events are linked to the future. It is a tale of war-torn tragedy, family secrets, and heartbreak caused by lost dreams, and hopes. It also is about sacrifices that people make for their loved ones.

It is a very long book, but well worth the read. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and even contacted the author to let her know that. And to my surprise, she even emailed me back to say thanks!!!

[Susan Hebden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written book. I never knew the atrocities that occurred during the Franco years in Spain. The characters are believable, the lives during the war are tragic.
WARNING: There are TWO DIFFERENT endings, depending on which edition you have! We read for book club and had a VERY lively discussion since we did not discover that fact until the night of book club! I did not like her earlier version ending, so I would definitely recommend getting an edition after 2012.

[Kate Forsyth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young woman inherits an old house in Spain, discovers clues to buried family secrets, meets a gorgeous Spaniard, and finds her true path in life ... interposed with flashbacks to her grandmother's work during the bloody and turbulent Spanish Civil War as a nurse ... this book is exactly the sort of book I love to read the most. And I did love it!

[Natasa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Information about the Spanish Civil War kept me reading, not the love story or the back story of parentage. The little bit of info about making perfumes and how smells affect us was of interest too. The plot and dialogue- disappointing.

[Historical Tapestry · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://historicaltapestry.blogspot.pt...

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because it is largely set in Valencia, which is on my shortlist for the summer. I didn't get as much about Valencia as I was hoping, but a little bit and a little about Spanish culture too. This book uses the now familiar double narrative, one set in 2001--Emma is reeling from the death of her beloved mother, the betrayal of her ex, and a new pregnancy; the other set in 1937--Emma's grandmother Freya (who is also in the 2001 narrative) is a war nurse in Spain, her great uncle is a journalist there, and we meet their friends and compatriots. I did learn a lot more about Spain's history prior to WWII, of which I knew very little to begin with, so that was a bonus. The narratives tie together very nicely and I found myself quite invested in the family stories happening. Nothing to rave about here though...

[Kara Hansen · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. The premise of this book seemed so interesting, unfortunately it did not live up to my hopes. Yet another dual storyline, and I found I really struggled with the actual stories that they told. We first meet Emma Temple in 2001 on the day of 9/11. While she grapples with the personal tragedy to this event, we then transport back to Spain in 1936, during the Spanish Civil War. Between these two timelines and stories, I really felt a lack of character development. At times the dialog between adult characters was so juvenile and really just took away from any plot development. I was also hoping for more events and info to be centered around perfumers and perfume and scent making.
Disappointing.

[Vanessa Tekać · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kolika sam dugo tražila ovu knjigu i čekala da počnem sa čitanjem, žao mi je što je krajnji dojam ovako loš. Knjiga povezuje dvije priče, jednu iz prošlosti za vrijeme rata u Španijj i drugu u sadašnjosti, međutim obje priče su toliko razvučene da se ponekad izgubi nit u čitanju. Najveći razlog zbog kojeg je ovako niska ocjena je kraj, koji izgleda kao da je spisateljica htjela da bude šokantan , pa se na kraju ipak predomislila i sve se dobro završilo, svi sretni ...moglo je to puno bolje.

[Colleen Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I reviewed this book for www.luxuryreading.com.

When Emma Temple's life seems to hit rock bottom the perfect opportunity to heal and start over presents itself when her mother bequeaths her a rundown villa in Valencia, Spain. Emma sets out to repair the home and her heart and possibly begin a new fragrance company using the local exotic scents, a skill and love she acquired from her mother. But Emma’s grandmother, Freya, and great-uncle, Charles, caution her not to go. Both are hiding secrets connected to their time serving in the Spanish Civil War and are terrified that Emma will uncover the truth of what happened in Valencia almost seventy years before, information that will change everything Emma thought she knew about who she is and where she belongs.

Weaving back and forth between the early 2000s and the late 1930s, The Perfume Garden shows the horror and brutality of a world at war but also the strength and courage of those that will fight for the truth even when everything else has been lost. It also highlights the devastation that can come from secrets and fear and the need for honesty and love to repair the damage life can cause.

Loving stories that mesh together the past and present I was very excited to read The Perfume Garden. The descriptions and story lines centered around the Spanish Civil War were vibrant and compelling. The horror and savagery of war was made even more poignant by humanizing it through Freya and Charles’s perspectives. These scenes are very realistic and hard to read at times but made so touching by the beauty – in butterflies and babies – the characters seem to find through the haze of horror. These portions were beautifully done.

I found Emma’s modern story line to be less interesting. While I understand that Emma remodeling the villa and meeting the people she does helped bring about the secrets Freya and Charles have been keeping for so long, I kept waiting for more from her, especially more dealing with her garden and the business of making perfume. I didn’t really connect with the romantic aspect of her story and the story ended rather strangely to me. I found myself hurrying through the modern story line to try and get back to the 1930s.

While I love history, I knew very little about the Spanish Civil War and The Perfume Garden did an excellent job of bringing that portion of history to life and making me want to read more. Even with the issues I had with Emma’s story line, I still enjoyed the story very much and would be interested in reading more from this author.

[Emma Tingay · Rating 4 out of 5]

At its heart, The Perfume Garden is a story of love, and loss and family. There is plenty of tragedy, but also romance. Emma Temple is the young heir to the perfume company “Liberty Temple”, named after her mother. After her ex-boyfriend is caught in the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the death of her mother, Emma moves to Valencia, Spain. Her mother had bought “Villa del Valle” before she died, and had left it to Emma. She opens a florist shop, called “The Perfume Garden”, selling produce from her abundant garden. While renovating the villa, Emma meets Luca de Santangel and his family, and gradually pieces together the mystery of her own family.
In a parallel story, set against the backdrop of the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War, we meet Charles and Freya Temple. This brother and sister have come to Spain as part of the International Brigade to fight against Franco and the Nationalists. Freya works as a nurse, while Charles works as a journalist/photographer trying to tell the rest of the world of the tragedies occurring all over Spain. They rub shoulders with Neruda and Hemingway who are also in Spain for similar reasons.
I really enjoy reading historical fiction, especially when the subject is something I don’t know a lot about, and I love discovering new writers. I haven’t read any of Kate Lord Brown’s novels before, but I will definitely be reading more in the future. It is similar in style to Belinda Alexandra and Kate Morton, both of whom are authors I love. There were also shades of Isabel Allende’s House of Spirits in one of the main characters, Rosa, who is able to read the future. I have read stories set in Spain during World War Two before, but I was really interested to learn more about the years preceding the war.
I loved the Spanish setting – the relaxed style of living, the food, music and dancing, the colours of the sky, and the vividness of the scenery. Mixed with the fact that Emma is a perfume maker, you can almost smell the orange blossoms and the almond soap as they are described on the page.
8/10

[Marguerite Kaye]

This simply didn't work for me. I wanted to like it. The subject matter is one that really interests me, and I really enjoy novels that are set in two time periods. But for some reason, the characters simply switched me off, and I found the Dickensesque coincidences in the plot rather predictable than intriguing. I think above all, I found it difficult to believe in the characters. Luca came over as totally self-indulgent, as to an extent did Emma and her great uncle. Brining in 9/11 in the modern-day story felt like a plot device way too far, and the Delilah character felt like a twist too far. Maybe with less characters, or more focus on fewer - I don't know. I do know that I didn't feel.

It might be me, looking down the other reviews I can see that I'm in a minority, so maybe it is me, but by the end of the book (and I skimmed the last third) I was finding it very hard to care about what happened. This is a tragic subject - Homage to Calaniona and more recently S J Sansom's Winter in Madrid really evoke the horror of civil war and the effect it has on the innocents, but The Perfume Garden - well, as I said, I'm very sorry, but it didn't work for me.

[Bianca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just found the second best book i have ever read after Jane Eyre Is the perfume garden and i really want to thank you, kate for this great oportunitty. Really, thank you i was in love with this book first time i saw her, because of cover but now i know that it is much than a great cover. it is a beautigul story of a girl, Emma who came in an old house and she starts to discover secrets about her origin and her family. She discover that nothing it is what it seems. The story is a great one about love, tragedy, fights and conflicts. Emma lose her boyfriend and decided to go with her unborn child on her mother's old house and want to start a new job, a perfume shop. She found here new friends and new love and with his family after much problems could have a peaceful life. thank you again kate for the book it was freat

[Shana Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a great deal! I went into reading this book with the expectation of it being a Spanish version of Under the Tuscan Sun but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the story had more grit, and a touch of actual history to it in regards to the Spanish Civil War(for you non-history people it happened right before WWII).

The only complaint I might find with the book is that the ending felt a bit rushed, and I would have liked to see the story line fleshed out a bit more about the romance between the main characters.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in fictionalized(but accurate) accounts of the Spanish Civil War, people who enjoy a good romance and people who are intested in the perfume trade. It has a little bit of something for everyone!

[Karen Barrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, more a 3.5 but felt there was enough for me to elevate it to a 4. A well written, very well researched novel, with the depictions of the fall out of the Spanish Civil War on the local population being so well presented, it felt as if the author had witnessed these events herself. I found the storyline which centred around the Civil war the stronger of the two, probably because it had more depth, but others may well prefer the lighter modern day storyline which focused more on emotion. Starting with the September 11th date was a great hook, but strangely enough, I don't think the author successfully capitalized on the emotional fall out of that event on the heroine. But any book that can successfully take me to another time and place will always get a thumbs up from me.

[Katharine Ott · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Perfume Garden" - written by Kate Lord Brown and published in 2012 by Atlantic Books. Family ties reach across the years from the 1930s in Spain where we get a serious dose of the atrocities of the Franco-fueled Civil War there, and the early 2000s also mostly in Spain where a grieving woman settles to have her fatherless baby and move on with her life. The sections taking place during that terrible infighting where half a million people were killed, many women and children, were eye-opening, and the story develops from survivors, both Spanish and English. In the contemporary portions, our main character Liberty has just lost her mother and her former lover, and needs to decide whether to continue her mother's flourishing perfume business. She inherits a home in Spain and that's where the romantic sparks fly. The ingredients are all there for a wonderful story, but I felt the execution was too loose, too soft, too tame. Even surprising revelations seemed muted and there wasn't much anticipation. So, a pleasant, but not inspiring, story.

[Sam (Bookpaperraven) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn’t a huge fan of this book. It’s felt a bit dull until the last 100 pages.It was often hard to tell what was happening within chapters because the scene would flip to a memory without it being clear that’s what occurred and then would flip back, with no indication. Even a change of font would have helped. Point of view flip flopped a lot, even within a scene it could be hard to tell who was the narrator but it was not presented in an omniscient tense. I also didn’t understand why Emma referred to her mother and grandmother as Freya and Liberty in her thoughts, but not when she actually spoke to them. All of these issues ruined the book for me. But I did learn about pre WWII Spain, so I didn’t come out of the book with nothing at least.

[Evelynkeirstead · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. This book is set during two time periods; during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and during the early 2000s. I knew very little about the Spanish Civil War so I found that part of the book not only interesting but informative. Several times I searched for additional information from Wikipedia in order to be better informed about what I was reading. The modern day part of the story followed a young woman who had ties to the past and to Spain snd to an abandoned Spanish villa as she tried to navigate herself through loss, sacrifice and love. An additional very interesting part of the story dealt with the profession of developing perfumes. All in all a very good story.

[Denise Deen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very enjoyable read. The way the author wove together both stories -past and present- was gripping. I have never read much about Spain’s civil war which lead into WWII but learned a-lot about the way it tore this beautiful country apart. The descriptive narratives about the architecture and landscape makes me want to visit! Beautiful story!!

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

A intriguing read , as two stories from past and present entwined. I did not like Delilah , one of the most selfish characters I've ever read about.
this story focused on two very strong women , who I enjoyed reading about , and Kate Lord Brown told their story well.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great history

[LAURIE]

Loved it!!