I thought it was time to freshen Mondays up around here, especially given that I am not currently finishing even a book a week at the moment. So I’m going to share a favorite quote from what reading I do do, or just a favorite quote in general, every Monday for awhile. Feel free to join me if you wish.
My quote today comes from The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson. I tell you, from page one, I fell in love with her writing. I’m going to show you why….
Some scents sparkle and then quickly disappear, like the effervescence of citrus zest or a bright note of mint. Some are strange siren songs of rarer origin that call from violets hidden in woodland, or irises after spring rain. Some scents release a rush of half-forgotten memories. And then there are the scents that seem to express truths about people and places that ou have never forgotten: the scents that make time stand still.
That is what Lavande de Nuit, Marthe’s perfume, is to me. Beyond the aroma’s first charge of heliotrope, as the almond and hawthorn notes rise, it carries sights and sounds, tastes and feelings that unfurl one from the other: the lavender fields, sugar0dusted biscuits, wild0flowers in meadows, the wind’s plainsong in the trees, the cloisters of silver-flickering olives, the garden still warm at midnight, and the sweet, musty smell of secrets.
That perfume is the essences of my life. When I smell it, I am ten years old again, lying in the grass at Les Genevriers, on one of those days of early summer when the first fat southerly winds warm the ground and the air begins to soften with promise. I am twenty, as I toss my long hair and walk on air toward my lover. I am thirty, forty, fifty. Sixty, and frightened…
How can I be frightened by a scent?
Bliss. The richness of language, of words, of meaning…I am carried away and can’t wait to settle down with this beauty. Don’t forget, the special RIP readalong of The Lantern begins this week. Check Carl’s blog, Stainless Steel Droppings, for the first round of discussion.
I love that picture! The presence of different scents in The Lantern and their importance was surprising to me. I had not expected that element.
I've been listening to The Lantern on audio book and how beautifully written it is. I loved this part too.
Amen! Love her lush writing style!
I'm going to have to give this book a second go. It just wasn't *doing* it for me. But, the quote is lovely!
This book has such beautiful imagery and language. It is worth reading just for that alone. Simply gorgeous. Enjoy!
I finished this last week and still haven't written my review — any moment now…. Ha!