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The Scent Trail
The Scent Trail
Oct 11, 2024 5:21 AM

Author:Celia Lyttelton

The Scent Trail

When Celia Lyttelton visited a bespoke perfumers, she realized a long-held ambition: to have a scent created solely for her. Entering this heady, exotic world of oils and essences, she was transported from a leafy London square to a place of long-forgotten memories and sensory experiences. And once drawn into this world, she felt compelled to trace the origins, history and culture of the many ingredients that made up her unique perfume...

And so began a magical journey of the senses that took Celia from Grasse, the cradle of perfume, to Morocco; from the rose-growing region of Isparta in Turkey, to the Tuscan hills where the iris grows wild. And after journeying to Sri Lanka, the home of the heavenly scented jasmine, Celia ventured to India, the Yemen and finally to the 'Island of Bliss', Socotra. Here she traced the rarest and most mysterious agent in perfumery, ambergris, which is found in the bellies of whales and is said to have powerful aphrodisiac qualities.

From the peasants and farmers growing their own crops, and the traders who sell to the great perfume houses, to the 'noses' who create the scents and the marketing kings who rule this powerful billion-dollar industry, Celia Lyttelton paints a mystical, sensual landscape of sights, sounds and aromas as she recalls the extraordinary people and places she encountered on her unique Scent Trail.

Reviews

When Celia Lyttelton set out to have a scent created solely for her, she found herself propelled into an adventure that would take her across the world, investigating the origins, history and culture of wonderfully exotic ingredients...The Scent Trail tells her story.

—— Woman and Home

A fantastic book about perfume and our sense of smell...

—— Anna Shepard , Times Online

'The intriguing relationship between scent, memory and place is the underlying note in Lyttelton's journey through the history, creation and business of perfume. We are whisked to traditional perfumers' workshops, with their phial-filled antique cases, to the spice souks of Marrakech, Ottoman houses in Turkey adorned with necklaces of peppers and chillis, iris farms in Italy, and the mossy-floored cedar forests of Azrou'

—— The Australian

This book offers an insight into the foreign origins of the perfumes lining chemist shelves, while taking us on a sensory adventure around the globe

—— Real Travel Magazine

A magical journey of the senses

—— Yorkshire Evening Post

The moment I read Anam Cara... I felt like I had found a kindred spirit. I love everything John has written. It comes from such a deep, profound, wise, and insightful space.

—— Maria Shriver, author, advocate, and journalist

What a profound joy it is rereading Anam Cara, John O'Donohue's glorious book of teachings about nature, human life, friendship, love, and loss. Anyone who ever spent time with John came away changed, as do his readers.

—— Diane Ackerman, bestselling author and poet

In this twenty-fifth anniversary edition, you will find John a 'soul friend' on your own journey through life, offering support and solace, clarity, and consciousness-expanding narratives that invite you to experience relationships with people, nature, and even your inner world in new ways that nurture well-being and resilience in these challenging times.

—— Daniel J. Siegel, MD, bestselling author, neuropsychiatrist

With this twenty-fifth anniversary of Anam Cara, John's fervent call to dignify each other reverberates in every corner of our beautiful broken world with more urgency and presence.

—— Ellen Wingard, Advocate for Social Impact Leadership

A lively spiritual companion to all Celts-or to those who are Celtic in their hearts.

—— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

For almost twenty years the poetic and prophetic words of John O'Donohue have held sacred space and holy weight in my heart.

—— Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, Senior Pastor-Trinity United Church of Christ (Chicago, Illinois)

Anam Cara is a radiant source of wisdom, a link between the human and the divine. This work is a blessed, rare gem.

—— Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Be Careful What You Pray For, Prayer Is Good Medicine, and Healing Words

John O'Donohue is an unassuming man with a grand sense of humor. . . charming.

—— Joy Redfield Kwapien, author of The Celestine Journal

John brightens the way for you, if you have the courage to go there--he was obviously sent here with the light.

—— Davy Spillane, Grammy Award-winning musician/composer at North Atlantic Music Studios (Ireland) and Producer of Anam Cara Audiobook

John O'Donohue's book of Celtic wisdom comes at you like a blast of fresh wind rushing above the din of modern noise and cynical contemporary conversations, revitalising the spirit to effectively face this turbulent world. Indeed we need John's wildly original and provocative voice more than ever.

—— Gail Straub, Co-Founder--Empowerment Institute, Author of The Rhythm of Compassion

From the very first sentence, Anam Cara takes us on an exhilarating journey through the human soul and its many wondrous and mysterious labyrinths, and John O'Donohue is the perfect guide to light the way--a radiant soul full of deep wisdom, true compassion, and boundless joy.

—— Andrew Carroll, New York Times bestselling author and co-founder, with Nobel Laureate Joseph Brodsky, of the American Poetry & Literacy Project

Anam Cara has accompanied me on my spiritual journey from its very inception. I have returned to this book often, for solace, wisdom and --most of all--to be reminded that I am not alone in what I desire for myself and for our world. John O'Donohue has been my "soul friend" for years, and his brave revelations of his mind and heart have changed my life. Get ready for a life-altering journey.

—— Edward L. Beck, Roman Catholic Priest, CNN Faith and Religion Commentator

In the age of social media in which we add and discard friends with the tap of a screen, we need more than ever John O'Donohue's vital words of wisdom on how the right relationships can lift a life and feed the soul. This book is about deep love, belonging, and honoring nourishing ties that crush small-minded concepts of what friendship can be. A must read for all on the spiritual journey.

—— Sophfronia Scott, author of The Seeker and the Monk and Love's Long Line

John blew away the dust of many years of spiritual disillusionment and blessed the world with an ancient message infused with beauty, love and divine truths. This was a man formed from the wildness of clay and rock of the West coast of County Clare. It was a privilege to know John and to witness him enliven weary souls in search of the divine spark. He was and continues to be an Anam Cara (soul friend) to those of us blessed to have known him and for all who continue to walk the path through his inspired writings.

—— Áine Minogue, Irish Musician
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