Fragrant – The Secret Life Of Scent By Mandy Aftel (Hardcover)

Mandy Aftel’s immersive book, Fragrant: The Secret Life of Scent, won the 2016 Perfumed Plume book award for fragrance writing.

Through five major players in the epic of aroma, author Mandy Aftel explores the profound connection between our sense of smell and the appetites that move us, give us pleasure, make us fully alive. Cinnamon, queen of the Spice Route, touches our hunger for the unknown, the exotic, the luxurious. Mint, homegrown the world over, speaks to our affinity for the native, the familiar, the authentic. Frankincense, an aromatic resin, taps into our longing for transcendence, while ambergris embodies our unquenchable curiosity. And exquisite jasmine exemplifies our yearning for beauty, both evanescent and enduring.

In addition to providing a riveting initiation into the history, natural history, and philosophy of scent, Fragrant imparts the essentials of scent literacy and includes recipes for easy-to-make fragrances and edible, drinkable, and useful concoctions that reveal the imaginative possibilities of creating with—and reveling in—aroma. Vintage line drawings make for a volume that will be a treasured gift as well as a great read.

Published 2014 by Penguin Random House, 288 pages, hardcover