The Perfumist of Paris

The novel opens in Radha’s Paris apartment on the 17th anniversary of the day she birthed her first child, Niki. Back then, she was just 13 and was spurned by her lover’s family, the Singhs. As a result, Radha gave up her baby for adoption and left Jaipur with her sister, Lakshmi, to escape the shame. They moved to Shimla, where Radha attended an international school. She left for Paris when she graduated to marry her husband, Pierre.

Lakshmi calls from Shimla to offer emotional support, but she avoids the topic of the birth anniversary. Though Niki’s adoptive mother Kanta has sent letters and pictures over the years to share his growth and accomplishments, Radha has returned them all unopened because she cannot bear the pain of looking at them. Pierre and their daughters, Shanti and Asha, do not know about Niki. Radha and Lakshmi discuss the success of Lakshmi’s herbal medicine business and the latest tensions in Radha’s household. Though Radha loves her job as an aspiring perfumist at Paris’s famous House of Yves, Pierre does not approve of her work and is using their older daughter Shanti’s recent behavioral problems as proof that she is failing as a mother. Shanti hit her nanny, Yasmin, and the woman quit, leaving Radha juggling work and childcare and feeling inadequate at both. However, hearing Lakshmi’s voice and speaking in Hindi grounds her, and she tells herself tomorrow will be better.

At work in the House of Yves, Radha tests a perfume sample against a client brief and finds the scent lacking. She compares her single year of chemistry to her co-worker Michel’s two and her own lack of influence compared to the other lab assistant, Ferdinand, who is the proprietor’s nephew. Radha worries about how she will correct the formula and save face. The secretary, Céleste, interrupts her with a call from Pierre. He tells her Shanti is being sent home from school for hitting another girl and running away, and since Radha has not replaced their nanny, he expects her to pick the girls up early. However, Radha must finish the reformulation and cannot leave work, so she asks Pierre to pick the girls up just once and hangs up before he can protest.

Later, during the perfume’s inspection, Radha hesitates in front of the men to explain why her sample is incomplete. The master perfumer, Delphine, pointedly confronts Radha in her office and asks why Radha isn’t satisfied with the perfume; she also advises Radha never to apologize for her instincts. Radha works late to finish the reformulation but worries about how her family will react. When her best friend, Mathilde, calls her to warn her that her mother-in-law, Florence, has invited Mathilde to dinner at Radha’s apartment, Radha knows the evening will end in arguments with both Pierre and Florence. Delphine approves her reformulation but Radha cannot enjoy the praise, knowing her dedication at the office is a source of tension in her home.

As expected, Florence confronts her about the inconvenience of picking the girls up and cooking dinner on such short notice, but she also offers to take the girls more often. Radha privately believes Florence is trying to cut her children off from her and their Indian culture, so she refuses help and Florence leaves in anger. When she and Pierre finally discuss the day’s events, she struggles to articulate why her job matters to her and resents that Pierre is not expected to explain his dedication to his career as an architect. Pierre lists all the couples they know whose marriages are crumbling because of the wife’s choice to work. Though their argument is heated, they make up and have passionate sex.  

In the morning, Radha half listens as Pierre prepares for an important project meeting with his architectural firm. When he leaves, she questions Shanti about her aggressive behavior with Yasmin and at school. When Shanti deflects, Asha explains that Yasmin told Shanti she would become as dark as her mother if she refused to wear a hat, which prompted Shanti to hit her. Radha guesses that similar racism led to the school incident, and Shanti agrees. Radha explains that the melanin in their skin is a special protection, like that of Lord Ganesha in the girls’ childhood book Tales of Krishna. Shanti feels proud and happy when she recalls this, and Radha relaxes, realizing she is a capable mother after all and not the source of Shanti’s disobedience.

At work, though Delphine has praised her reformulation, Radha discovers it is different from the previous day’s version and fears professional sabotage. Michel is usually dour and cold with her while Ferdinand is friendly, so she suspects Michel of tampering with her perfume even though it is Ferdinand who returns her missing formula book. Delphine requests that Radha meet her after hours at the museum. There, Delphine asks her opinion about a particular painting: Manet’s Olympia. Delphine reveals that a client wants them to create a perfume to capture the woman in the portrait and that she wants Radha to lead the project. Radha returns home to find the family, along with Florence and Mathilde, already celebrating. At first, she wonders how they know about her big assignment, but then realizes they are celebrating Pierre’s promotion. Her accomplishment feels diminished, and when she shares it, only Mathilde is excited for her while Pierre and Florence push back on the longer hours she will have to work.

Radha returns to the museum to examine the feminine left and masculine right sides of Olympia’s face using Hindu design principles. The museum guard Gérard, who is friendly with Delphine, joins her. He tells her about the model for the painting, Victorine Meurent, who was a great artist in her own right, though she was poor. She earned enough to paint by modeling for Manet, Degas, and other Impressionists, who criticized her work and accused her of being a sex worker out of jealousy. The men rose to fame while Victorine was used, discarded, and forgotten.

Radha takes these insights to the lab. She imagines a base scent that is humid, but she cannot find one that fits, and her first trial is rejected. Later, she calls Lakshmi to explain her professional dilemma. Lakshmi tells her that India has ancient perfuming traditions and that the courtesans of Agra—the same women who took Lakshmi in when she first fled her abusive marriage years ago—would know exactly how to help her. Radha believes a trip so far away would upset both Pierre and Delphine, but Lakshmi reminds her with a proverb that big rewards require big risks. Emboldened, Radha proposes the Agra trip to Delphine, saying it would help in her search for new scents, and Delphine grants her request. However, Pierre balks at the idea even though the trip will only be for four days. Radha and Pierre argue after dinner and Radha reminds him that he, too, travels for work; then, she arranges for the girls to stay with Florence. Radha prepares for the trip by doing additional household chores, and though Mathilde calls to ask for support for her struggles with her mother who has dementia, Radha cannot spare the time.