A sensuously written international bestseller of lost love, family secrets, and the art of creating a perfect perfume, perfect for fans of Kate Morton and Tatiana de Rosnay.
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, London's leading perfumer, is the first to unlock its doors in seventy years. Her free-spirited mother has just passed away, leaving her the house mysteriously purchased just before her death. At the same time, Emma broke up with her long-time lover and business partner, although she carries his baby.
Guided by a series of letters and a key bequeathed to her in her mother's will, Emma makes it her mission to restore the beautiful but decaying house 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.