Susan Crandall

My Thoughts:

“My daddy says that when you do somethin’ to distract you from your worstest fears, it’s like whistlin’ past the graveyard. You know, making a racket to keep the scaredness and the ghosts away. He says that’s how we get by sometimes. But it’s not weak, like hidin’… It’s strong. It means you’re able to go on.”

I’ve found a new narrator to love. Starla Claudelle is sassy, funny, and adorable. When she teams up with Eula Littleton it’s a match made in literary heaven. What they learn from one another is immeasurable. They both start out a little broken and more than a little naive. 

The time period and setting in Whistling Past the Graveyard is a gold mine. 1963 Mississippi was ripe for change and simmering with racial tension. I’ve seen this book compared to To Kill a Mockingbird and I can understand why. Crandall handles the issues of the time with potent sensitivity.

Whistling Past the Graveyard made me laugh and put a lump in my throat more than once. I found it to be charming, powerful, and superbly written.

Get your hands on a copy. Definitely.

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Kathleen Tessaro

A remarkable novel about secrets, desire, memory, passion, and possibility.

Newlywed Grace Monroe doesn’t fit anyone’s expectations of a successful 1950s London socialite, least of all her own. When she receives an unexpected inheritance from a complete stranger, Madame Eva d’Orsey, Grace is drawn to uncover the identity of her mysterious benefactor.

Weaving through the decades, from 1920s New York to Monte Carlo, Paris, and London, the story Grace uncovers is that of an extraordinary women who inspired one of Paris’s greatest perfumers. Immortalized in three evocative perfumes, Eva d’Orsey’s history will transform Grace’s life forever, forcing her to choose between the woman she is expected to be and the person she really is.

The Perfume Collector explores the complex and obsessive love between muse and artist, and the tremendous power of memory and scent.

This book was extremely readable. I’m not talking about easy reading, nor do I mean to call this book fluff. It was smooth. I’d read for an hour but it would feel like 5 minutes. It was that type of book. Smooth.

The main characters were almost opposite in their sensibilities. Eva was impetuous and brave. Grace was more cautious. It was interesting to compare the two. Their connection wasn’t quite as mysterious as I had hoped but it was still intriguing to journey with Grace as she unraveled the secret of her past. Both of these women were captivating.

SheReads.org

Speaking of captivating? Paris in the 1950s! New York in the 1920s! I was enamored with the settings and time-frames. Seriously swoon worthy.

The passion for perfume in this book was contagious. I found myself thinking about the compelling nature of scent. Is there anything more powerful? The memories it brings with it, the way it takes you back to another time…ahh, fantastic.

Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains. ~ Diane Ackerman