From the internationally bestselling author, a lush and imaginative
novel that crisscrosses time as passion and obsessions collide
Florence, Italy--1533:
An orphan named René le Florentin is plucked from poverty to become
Catherine de Medici's perfumer. Traveling with the young duchessina from
Italy to France, René brings with him a cache of secret documents from
the monastery where he was trained: recipes for exotic fragrances and
potent medicines--and a formula for an alchemic process said to have the
potential to reanimate the dead.
In France, René 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, René doesn't begin to imagine the tragic
and personal consequences for which his lethal potions will be
responsible.
Paris, France--The Present:
A renowned mythologist, Jac L'Etoile--trying to recover from personal
heartache by throwing herself into her work--learns of the
sixteenth-century perfumer who may have been working on an elixir that
would unlock the secret to immortality. She becomes obsessed with René
le Florentin's work-- particularly when she discovers the dying breaths
he had collected during his lifetime.
Jac's efforts put her in the path of her estranged lover, Griffin North,
a linguist who has already begun translating René le Florentin's
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 Medici's court to twenty-first-century France. Fiery and lush, set
against deep, wild forests and dimly lit chateaus, The Collector of
Dying Breaths illuminates the true path to immortality: the legacies we
leave behind.
