I read a post on Face Book "This Week is National Book Week pick up the book closest to you, turn to page 57 and write the 1st sentence in the 5th paragraph in your status. Face Book is stranger than fiction sometimes. National Book Week, (actually called National Library Week) is April 3-10, 2011.
But every day is a good day to read a favorite book and wear a favorite perfume. Fiction and fragrance open our imagination to new worlds and connect us no matter where we live.
"I wish there could have been an invention that bottled up a memory like perfume and it never faded never got stale. Then whenever I wanted to I could uncork that bottle and live the memory all over again", is one of the most famous perfume quotes; it originates from one of my favorite books (and movies; this 1940 Academy Award winner was Alfred Hitchcock’s American directorial debut starring Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter and Joan Fontaine as his much younger second wife), Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.
Ah, Daphne du Maurier – the queen of the 1930's gothic novel. This is my third reading of Rebecca, and it was every bit as deliciously dramatic as the first time around. Set in Cornwall, England in an expansive country manor known as Manderley, Rebecca is told by a nameless first person narrator, who leaves her lowly job as a paid companion to marry the eccentric and recently widowed Max de Winter, the owner of Manderley. After a wonderful honeymoon, they return to his estate, Manderley.
Joseph Mallard Williams Turner, Two Women and a Letter
Ah yes. The Narrator meets one of the most insane characters of all time, the creepy Ms. Danvers, who casts her malicious spell over her throughout the book. Her marriage's happiness is shrouded in shadows. The narrator discovers that Manderley is a shrine to Maxim’s first wife, Rebecca de Winter — her perfume, her clothing, her impeccable style; Rebecca’s larger-than-life ghost torments the narrator into a state of ultimate despair.
Joan Fontaine as Rebecca , Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers
Sir Laurence Olivier as Max de Winter
In my opinion, Max de Winter is the most fascinating character in the book. The scent of secrecy: Sel a Vetiver.
Celine Ellena’s second solo fragrance (Jasmine de Nuit was her first) for The Different Company and it is a unique variation on the classic masculine vetiver.
Joseph Mallard Williams Turner, Peace Burial at Sea
The scent opens with a sharp citrus accord, and then settles into the richness of the vetiver root; roots dipped in sea salt. The deepness and earthiness of the vetiver drowns in a pool of sea water. I could find no more fitting fragrance for Maxim de Winter.
Twisted plots? (We only have to look at the recent changes at The Different Company)
–Michelyn Camen, Editor-In-Chief
The draw is for five samples to one winner of Sel a Vetiver. To be eligible for leave a comment on your favorite book and the fragrance you would choose for him/her/it (i.e a Robot from Asimov), Your favorite perfume from TDC or what you believe was the scent of Rebecca.
Joseph Mallard Williams Turner, Lady in a Black Dress
Editor's Note:The book was written in 1938 but is retrospective and set some time ago. The exact year the novel is set, much like the first name of its lead character, remains a mystery. I chose the artwork of British painter Joseph Mallard Williams Turner (23 April 1775–19 December 1851), because in my imagination the novel took place at this time.
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