A Scented Palace: The Secret History of Marie Antoinette's Perfumer

Interesting and fun read, if you like historical non-fiction and are infatuated with Marie Antoinette.

Intelligent, clear and elegant, A Scented Palace: The Secret History of Marie Antoinette's Perfumer is a gorgeous book awash with floral seduction and midsummer delights. The author, Elisabeth de Feydeau, holds a Phd in the history of perfume and is a professor of the Versailles School of Perfumers. She received the Prix Guerlain for this work. Adoring fans of Marie Antoinette will sip the sweet intimacy in tidbits such as: "The nobility wore only the most refined perfumes; there were marquises in a cloud of amber, young dandies smelling of cyprus, magistrates wearing enough musk to pass for weasels. Moralists denounced this riot of scents, but those who coveted the perfumes, make-up, unguents and powder scarcely paid them any attention." A glorious read, that page by page, releases every note of perfume.

This is an excellent book, with amazing research and insights that I have seen nowhere else in books about this period. You get such a feel for what is going on that it is like you are part of the "in-crowd" of the day. You also get a feel of what the people were like at a time when there was no indoor plumbing or sanitation and smells had to be disguised (like the animal parts that were thrown on the lawn from the kitchen). Plus it is easy to read and Ms. De Feydeau doesn't try to analyze anyone like most writers of this period do, she just puts down the where and when and what happened in a pleasant writing style. Nice....

This book provides a very interesting perspective of the French Revolution from someone close to Marie Antoinette. I truly enjoyed reading it. The only disappointment is that the 'recipes' aren't truly recipes but a description of how some of the essential oils were garnered.

I enjoyed this book immensely. If you loved Perfume by Patrick Suskind, you may enjoy this as well although not as much.;