Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Alka Joshi | A Master Perfumer Finds Her Way
Author Guest / April 7, 2023

What is the title of your latest release? THE PERFUMIST OF PARIS   What’s the elevator pitch for your new book? Paris, 1974. Radha, Lakshmi’s rebellious younger sister from The Henna Artist, is now 32 and living in Paris with her husband and two daughters. With Lakshmi’s help, she’s on the cusp of realizing her career ambition as a master perfumer when she finds out the son she never told her husband about is heading to Paris to find her, upending her carefully managed world and vulnerable marriage.   How did you decide where your story was going to take place? My character decided it. In the first book of the Jaipur Trilogy, I had written the future stories of each major character. Radha decided to elope with a Frenchman who was trekking through the Himalayan foothills where she was a boarding school student. They married in Paris, where Radha found her way into the elegant world of fragrance—a natural for Radha—who used to mix the finest henna paste for her sister Lakshmi.   Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Yes. I would find her take on perfume fascinating.   What are three words that describe…