Atria Books
April 2014
On Sale: April 8, 2014
Featuring: Renรฉ le Florentin; Jac LโEtoile
385 pages ISBN: 1451621531 EAN: 9781451621532 Kindle: B00DPM9088 Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
An orphan named Renรฉ le Florentin is plucked from poverty to become Catherine de Mediciโs perfumer. Traveling with the young duchessina from Italy to France, Renรฉ brings with him a cache of secret documents from the monastery where he was trained: recipes for exotic fraยญgrances and potent medicinesโand a formula for an alchemic process said to have the potenยญtial to reanimate the dead.
In France, Renรฉ becomes not only the greatest perfumer in the country, but also the most dangerous, creating deadly poisons for his Queen to use against her rivals. But while mixing herbs and essences under the light of flickering candles, Renรฉ doesnโt begin to imagยญine the tragic and personal consequences for which his lethal potions will be responsible.
Paris, FranceโThe Present:
A renowned mythologist, Jac LโEtoileโtrying to recover from personal heartache by throwยญing herself into her workโlearns of the sixteenth- century perfumer who may have been working on an elixir that would unlock the secret to immortality. She becomesobsessed with Renรฉ le Florentinโs workโparticularly when she discovers the dying breaths he had collected during his lifetime.
Jacโs efforts put her in the path of her estranged lover, Griffin North, a linguist who has already begun translating Renรฉ le Floยญrentinโs mysterious formula. Together they confront an eccentric heiress in possession of a world- class art collection, a woman who has her own dark purpose for the elixir . . . for which she believes the ends will justify her deadly means.
This mesmerizing gothic tale zigzags from the violent days of Catherine de Mediciโs court to twenty-first-century France. Fiery and lush, set against deep, wild forests and dimly lit chaยญteaus, The Collector of Dying Breaths illuminates the true path to immortality: the legacies we leave behind.
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