From Publishers Weekly
Following Joy and Anger , Blake moves to the perfume industry as the background for her latest novel, a competent mix of romance, history and intrigue. When Joletta Caresse inherits her family's perfume shop in New Orleans, she also becomes heir to the mystery that surrounds the firm's most important fragrance, Le Jardin de Courstet . The formula for the perfume, discovered during the 19th century by an ancestress named Violet, is lost when the only person who knows the secret dies suddenly without divulging it. Armed with Violet's diary, Joletta sets off for Europe to retrace the trip during which Violet originally discovered the perfume--and also shared a love affair with an artist named Allain. Before she leaves New Orleans, however, Joletta meets courtly, enigmatic Tyrone Kingsley Stuart Adamson IV--or Rone, as he calls himself--who both attracts and alarms her. Rone follows her abroad and though he saves her from death several times, she questions his motives. Entwining Violet and Allain's love story with that of their 20th-century counterparts, Blake also provides interesting material on the history of perfume. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

ANNOTATION

Acclaimed for her unforgettable characters and rich, rhythmic portrayals of the South, Jennifer Blake sweeps readers into the lives of two women--one modern, one ancestral--who embark upon a European odyssey toward their destiny. Searching for the secret formula to a legendary perfume, Joletta Caresse traces the 1854 journey of her ancestress, Violet Fossier.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Her previous novels, Love and Smoke and Joy and Anger have earned bestselling author Jennifer Blake tremendous acclaim for her rich, rhythmic portrayals of the South and her unforgettable characters. Now her gifted pen sweeps us to the colorful streets of present-day New Orleans and to Europe, past and present, where we follow the parallel lives of two women. One modern, one ancestral, these extraordinary heroines embark - one hundred and fifty years apart - upon a European odyssey towards their destiny. When Joletta Caressa's beloved grandmother dies, she takes with her the secret formula to a legendary perfume believed to have been worn by Cleopatra and Empress Josephine - and which is now the most desperately sought perfume on the market. Joletta's only clue to the formula is the journals written by her ancestress, Violet Fossier, who in 1854 made a grand tour of Europe. Joletta realizes she must follow Violet's itinerary across the European continent, using the events that took place and the scenes she visited to decipher the code to the formula. As Joletta follows Violet's journey, the story goes back in time, to nineteenth-century Europe and a scandalous love affair that is intimately bound up in the mystery of the perfume. In the present, Joletta finds herself attracted to - and suspicious of - Rone Adamson, a Southern playboy whose astounding knowledge of perfume makes Joletta wary. Yet his chivalrous charms prove too much for her scruples and Joletta succumbs to her dubious white knight, even as danger swirls around them.... Sweeping from modern London to Napoleon's France, from the Swiss Alps to the canals and palazzi of Italy and finally to a secret garden outside Venice where the answers to so many questions lie, here is a spellbinding novel of two passionate women who dare to live their wildest dreams. It is a magnificent tale that only Jennifer Blake could write.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly