Today's discussion question on The Grey Wolf focuses on scent. It's a small but constant detail in the series. And I found this interview with Louise that shares a little more insight into this aspect of the books.

Q: Why did you decide to scent Gamache in sandalwood?
LP: The sandalwood came because my grandfather, who I adored, had sandalwood cologne, or he smelled of it. I don't know whether it was a soap or cologne or the shaving foam he used. So whenever I smell sandalwood, which is not really that common of a scent–it's quite old fashioned. So whenever I smelled it, it evoked those walks in the park when he taught me poetry, so I decided I would give Gamache that scent of sandalwood. I understand how powerful scent is to evoke a time, a memory, a feeling, and more than anything else and I wanted to have that ability.

Q: Madame Gamesh you scent with rosewater.
LP: Yes, that is a scent I use a lot. I've experimented. I've used Jean Patou, I've forgotten what it's called, but it's rose. It's a perfume and to be honest that was a little strong for me so I experimented with the rosewater.

Q: I wondered if you might prefer lighter scent because in your books you always mention the scent is just a trace.
LP: It's very light. I like eau de cologne rather than perfume.

Q: So what made you decide to add these details to your characters?
LP: I wanted the books to be sensual. It's important to me, vital really, that all of the senses are engaged, and one of the big ones is scent. Not simply the scent of someone's perfume or eau de cologne but the smell of the food, the smell of the seasons. Each season in Canada smells different so I wanted people to be able to smell the maplewood fire, the maple syrup, fresh mown grass, all of that. And when you describe it people can smell it and then it takes them back to their own often comforting memories.

Q: You create such a sense of place. Your scenes are very tactile. I also noticed you scented Annie (Gamache and Reine-Marie's daughter) in citrus and Jean Guy in Old Spice.
LP: Michael, my husband, used Old Spice so I thought I would throw that in. And now that he's gone, I use his scent.

Q: In your books your character has a signature scent. Does scent play much of a part in your life?
LP: It's huge. I'm really sensitive to scent. I love scent. Not just perfume, but bath oils, when I'm designing gardens it's always with fragrant flowers so I'm very aware of scent. I'm also aware, like most people are, of being overwhelmed by it so I do think scent needs to be subtle, and have you come to it rather than have it overwhelm you. I think there are few worse experiences than being stuck on a plane with someone who's bathed themselves in some probably quite lovely perfume but way too much of it. I remember as a teenager when you first go out putting way too much on.

Q: In the interview you talked about a fourth wall and trying to engage all the reader's senses.
LP: The fourth wall … generally when you read a book you're reading the words and with any luck you can see it, it becomes like a movie in your head. But you're removed from it. The ideal for most writers and certainly for me is that if that barrier between you and the world that's being created comes down and you walk into the book, actually enter the action so you're no longer a voyeur, you're a witness, a participant. So you're sitting down in the bistro, you're having the food they've ordered, smelling the lamb and garlic and rosemary, smelling the wood smoke from the fire and you're feeling the warmth from it. You're seeing the bitter cold outside, the snow. You're actually completely engaged and the only way to do that as far as I can tell is to engage all the senses. Then you also have to make it empathetic. The final element has to be that you care about these people. The goal is that for the reader it no longer seems like a story, it seems real. You feel that these characters are friends.

Q: You created such a specific world. Did it come about slowly and organically or when you first started writing did you have it all pictured? Was it already in your head?
LP: I did. I sat down at the kitchen table before I started to write and I drew a map of the village…I still have it… I created the bookstore first, then the bistro, the bakery and so on. I know exactly where the different people live so it was very clear in my mind, not simply the geography of it, but the feel of it. It was important to me that it be a sanctuary, physically and emotionally for people because I think we all yearn for that these days.

Q: Speaking of sanctuary, I think you stated that you envisioned this after 911 . Is that right?
LP: That's correct. I think everyone understood something had shifted and that places that we thought were safe were no longer safe. In fact there is no such thing as safe anymore. That's a scary thought and I wanted to create a place that would feel safe. This didn't mean bad things didn't happen. Bad things can happen, it's not a magical place. but what makes it a safe place is the sense of community and belonging and friendship that can not be shattered. That love of each other is perpetual and permanent and that's what makes it a safe place.

Q: I read that you got a perfume made at Floris. Tell me about that.
LP: I've always liked Floris and everytime I go to London I go and visit Floris on Jermyn Street. I didn't realize that they would actually make a custom perfume. In the back…it felt a little bit like Harry Potter, actually….I began speaking with someone there and they said, "Yes, we have a perfumer, she's in the back room." I left my first book Still Life with the perfumer. She read it and got in touch. I made an appointment with her and Michael and I went. it feels like something from several centuries ago. There were all these glass vials and it's like some mad scientist's workshop from the 1700s. She started just mixing things together based on reading the book and the description. She said sandalwood and rose wouldn't work very well together. I don't know why not..so she mixed up other things.

I didn't understand why it (sandalwood and rosewater) wouldn't work together. It does in the book! The problem is that after you smell ten things you lose your sense of smell and your judgement. We narrowed it down to three or four, then came back and narrowed it down to one. So there is now an Eau de Gamache cologne. It has sandalwood and a lot of other things but I don't think it has rose. There may be a little, or other things that suggest rose. To be honest with you I'm not totally happy with it. I'd like another shot at it.

I've had some bottles made up and given to friends but I don't expect anyone else to buy it. There's a map out now of the village of Three Pines but I've been resistant to that as well because I think people have an image in their mind and maybe it's best to just leave it like that. It's nice to imagine it.

Q: I had always imagined Gamache's scent would be from Penhaligon's or Floris, one of those mainstay traditional houses. Does your newest book have any references to scent?
LP: Yes, actually scent plays a huge roll in my latest book, The Kingdom of the Blind (coming out in November). Very early on in the first chapter, Gamache is sitting in this car and he's about to answer the phone and we don't know what it is but clearly it's a call he's been expecting and dreading. He wonders if in future when he smells wet wool and hears the tapping of snow on the roof and feels the cold chill will he remember this moment, and whether he will remember it with dread or with joy.

He talks later with Isabelle LaCoste about trying to recover from shattering events and to get out of that pain and sorrow. He quotes a WWI poet, Rupert Brooke, who wrote a poem which in it has a list of things he loved and missed during the war, and many of them are scents such as the crisp scent of fresh linen. It was a comfort for him during WWI in the trenches. He would sit there in the worst situation imaginable and remember the smells and the sights from home and it would give him comfort. That's how Gamache describes how he has gotten through the sorrow, he lists the things he loves including the smell of Honore his grandson, so scent plays a in big role in his recovery, the idea of how healing scent can be.

So I think we have a better understanding of why the books, Three Pines and the characters mean so much to us, and how LP works to make us feel this way.

Here is the link to the full article: https://thefragrantjourney.blogspot.com/2018/05/scenting-inspector-gamache-interview.html