What is it about novels set in Paris? (Ahem.)
We’re thrilled to welcome Timothy Schaffert to Skylark’s online author series to talk about his breathtaking new novel, THE PERFUME THIEF. Alex read an early galley of the book and here is what he had to say:
Oh, how I adored this book! In The Perfume Thief, Timothy Schaffert treats us to a wartime Paris with a sharply delicious difference. As the habitués of the city’s late night demimonde perform an uneasy tango with the Nazi occupiers, we learn that resistance can take many forms, but it’s never easy. This novel is beguiling, sumptuous, and gripping. And the writing is so gorgeous, it will slay you.
Timothy and Alex will be in virtual conversation at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 19. To register for this free event, please click here.
THE PERFUME THIEF follows Clementine, a 72-year-old queer American expat and reformed con artist who has spent her life traveling the world as a thief of rare scents. It’s 1941 and Clem has settled into a quiet life in Paris, crafting signature perfumes for the nightlife workers of the city’s bordellos and cabarets—until the Germans occupy the city. When a successful Jewish perfume maker goes missing, Clem is enlisted by the queer resistance community to help protect his daughter, the prize songbird of one of Clem’s beloved underground haunts—only for her to become swept up in one particular Nazi bureaucrat’s attempts to garner Hitler’s favor. As Clem plays at collaborator, she also comes to play a sort of Scheherazade, bewitching him with the story of her life and loves around the world, from Belle Époque New York to the forests of Costa Rica to the spice markets of Marrakech, and outside twentieth-century bounds of gender. While Clem’s life hangs in the balance of evil amidst a glittering fascist den replete with revenge, romance, double-edged secrets, and an eccentric cast of characters, she must learn how to wield the political power of beauty and chosen community in the face of insidious hate—before it is too late.
With the full-tilt sensory experience and world-building of The Night Circus, the fizz and sex of Moulin Rouge, the subversiveness of Cabaret, and the high stakes cloak-and-dagger espionage of The Alice Network, all centered around a jaded elderly character rediscovering life of A Gentleman in Moscow, THE PERFUME THIEF will have you sniffing every secret scent with Clem, running hands over every intricate piece of haute couture, and letting every cocktail bubble on your tongue. Inspired by real figures, events, and little-known footnotes of the queer resistance in Occupied Paris, Schaffert’s prose glows with contemporary resonance for our moment in American history.
credit: Michael Lionstar
TIMOTHY SCHAFFERT is the author of five previous novels: The Swan Gondola, The Coffins of Little Hope, Devils in the Sugar Shop, The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God, and The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters. He is a professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and he writes the column “The Eccentricities of Gentlemen” for the popular lifestyle magazine Enchanted Living.
He’s also the talented creator of a new COVID hobby: candy wrapper haute couture caricatures! Some favorites are Phantom Thread x Dove Chocolates, Sophia Loren in Prêt-à-Porter x Lindt, Regina King x Cuevas, and Amanda Gorman (wrapper brand unknown). Check out his Instagram for more!
