Essence and Alchemy Classics • A New York Times

•  A New York Times bestseller for over a decade

In a captivating tale of love and dissatisfaction

she seizes the opportunity and escapes with him

undocumented life in London

Essence and Alchemy Classics • A New York TimesFor centuries, people have taken an instinctive pleasure in rubbing scents into their skin and using them to pray, to heal, and to make love. Yet in many ways perfumery, with its lush history and creative and sensual possibilities, is a lost art. No one knows this better than artisan natural perfumer Mandy Aftel, who has spent nearly thirty years immersed in the world of scent, culling the most beautiful natural essences from all over the world and