Thanks to Brittani Hilles of St. Martin’s Press, I am giving away one print copy of The Perfume Garden by Kate Lord Brown .
Book Description:
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, the garden, laden with orange blossom, grown wild.Emma Temple is the first to unlock its doors in seventy years. Guided by a series of letters and a key bequeathed in her mother’s will, she has left her job as London’s leading perfumier to restore this dilapidated villa to its former glory.
It is the perfect retreat: a wilderness redolent with strange and exotic scents, heavy with the colours and sounds of a foreign time. But for her grandmother, Freya, a British nurse who stayed here during Spain’s devastating civil war, Emma’s new home evokes terrible memories. As the house begins to give up its secrets, Emma is drawn deeper into Freya’s story: one of crushed idealism, lost love, and families ripped apart by war. She soon realises it is one thing letting go of the past, but another when it won’t let go of you.
About Kate Lord Brown:
Kate Lord Brown grew up in a wild and beautiful part of Devon, England, and was first published while at school. After studying philosophy at Durham University and art history at the Courtauld Institute, she worked as an art consultant, curating collections for palaces and embassies in Europe and the Middle East.
Kate won the BBC International Radio Playwriting Competition, Middle East region, in 2014; was a finalist in ITV’s The People’s Author competition 2009; and has an MA in creative writing. THE PERFUME GARDEN was shortlisted for the UK Romantic Novel of the Year 2014. She lives in the Middle East with her family, and is working on her next novel.
This giveaway is open to the U.S. and Canada only and ends on April 20, 2015. Please use Rafflecopter to enter.
This sounds like a page turner!
I love these “moving to a new country, starting a new life” kind of books. Right up my alley.
Captivating and enthralling. thanks.
Thank you for hosting, Teddy – good luck to you all with the draw! KLB
My pleasure Kate, thanks for stopping by and keep on writing!
Sounds like the house contains some intriguing secrets.
Thanks for the giveaway.
A secret. A neglected garden–bringing it back to life.
the premise
Spain, Civil War, perfume, ex-pat re-doing a villa, gardens! Beautiful cover, premise! What more could you ask for!
Looks like something I’d like!
dkstevensne AToutlookDoTCoM
I think the setting and the aftermath of a civil war I don’t know much about intrigues me. Thanks!
JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com
My interest in this story has a mysterious, hazy feel to it — like some evocative scent, if you will. I am really curious in the incorporation of Spanish history in the plot, which seems new and exciting to me. But, I find great sustenance in fictional breakdowns of women who could be my peers when burdened in their fictional lives with “family secrets” which make their carriages turn into pumpkins and then the universe implodes andthen ….something romantic happens to tie it all up maybe? Whatever befalls this would-be person, I’m in. Mwa-ha-ha! Yeah, I dunno why I enjoy those plots…Cheers and thanks, Kara S