The Perfumist of Paris (The Jaipur Trilogy, #3)

by Alka Joshi

“Lady Marmalade.”

“That’s not going to be the end of it. You’ll spend more and more energy getting to the next level and the level after that. Like an Américaine!” The French have always pitied the Americans for their long work hours and minimal vacations.

“Being a woman is difficult. I can see why my mother didn’t like her own gender. We can do so much. Give so much. But not everyone wants what we’re offering. And in the end, we’re left with…pieces of a whole. Shards. Splinters. Chips. Pick them up, they cut our hands. Leave them on the ground, they cut our feet. It’s hard for us to just walk away.”

I’ve come to think that some people are meant to be in our lives for a certain length of time and not a moment more. Mathilde may have been one of them.