num_pages: 384
description: A lush and imaginative novel that crisscrosses time as a perfumer and a mythologist search for the fine line between potion and poison poison and passionand past and present.Florence Italy1533: An orphan named Ren le Florentin is plucked from poverty to become Catherine de Medicis perfumer. Traveling with the young duchessina from Italy to France Ren brings with him a cache of secret documents from the monastery where he was trained: recipes for exotic fragrances and potent medicinesand a formula for an alchemic process said to have the potential to reanimate the dead. In France Ren becomes not only the greatest perfumer in the country but 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 Rene doesnt begin to imagine the tragic and personal consequences for which his lethal potions will be responsible.Paris FranceThe Present: A renowned mythologist Jac LEtoile is trying to recover from personal heartache by throwing herself into her work learns of the 16th century perfumer who may have been working on an elixir that would unlock the secret to immortality. She becomes obsessed with Ren le Florentins workparticularly when she discovers the dying breathes he had collected during his lifetime. Jacs efforts put her in the path of her estranged lover Griffin North a linguist who has already begun translating Ren le Florentins 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 a purpose for which she believes the ends will justify her deadly means. This mesmerizing gothic tale of passion and obsession crisscrosses time zigzagging from the violent days of Catherine de Medicis 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.
language: English
title: The Collector of Dying Breaths
publisher: Atria Books