The Scent Of Lilacs

Newly married bride Laura Wainwright tries her best to settle into life at her husband's oppressive family manor despite his strange family, but when a series of "incidents" endanger her life she must discover what secrets the family is hiding.

The scent of lilacs, poetry, and classical music bring Marla and Adam together after Marla's high school boyfriend is convicted of murder and disappears from her life. The charming, brilliant Adam promises Marla a life of culture, luxury, and family devotion. Having grown up in a small town in the shadow of a narcissistic mother, Marla is swept off her feet. But after twelve years of marriage, Marla has learned that Adam's version of love is controlling, manipulative, and even violent at times. When a key in Adam's closet unlocks troubling secrets, Marla must come to grips with the dark truth that has been just under the surface all along: Adam is not the man she thought she'd married. With the help of friends, family, and a newfound resilience, Marla fights to uncover every strand in the web of deceit and crime that Adam has woven through the past and present. Only then can she exhale.

Jocie Brooke has never wanted for love, despite the fact that she hardly remembers her mother. Jocie's father, preacher David Brooke, has done his best to be both father and mother to his daughter. Even Jocie's spinster Great-aunt Love, who's slowly going senile, cares for Jocie in her own stern way. But in their small town of Hollyhill, Kentucky, painful secrets lie just beneath the surface, and inquisitive spirits discover surprising truths. There's a reason why Aunt Love hides behind black dresses and a stoic countenance. And David takes his morning walks not just for quiet solitude, but to wrestle with the past. Full of stories of lost loves and the trials of small-town living, this heartwarming novel explores the journey of faith and family.

A story of suffering, determination and hope as the end draws near.

One woman, an impossible dream, and the faith it took to see it through, inspired by the life of Hulda Klager German immigrant and farm wife Hulda Klager possesses only an eighth-grade education—and a burning desire to create something beautiful. What begins as a hobby to create an easy-peeling apple for her pies becomes Hulda’s driving purpose: a time-consuming interest in plant hybridization that puts her at odds with family and community, as she challenges the early twentieth-century expectations for a simple housewife. Through the years, seasonal floods continually threaten to erase her Woodland, Washington garden and a series of family tragedies cause even Hulda to question her focus. In a time of practicality, can one person’s simple gifts of beauty make a difference? Based on the life of Hulda Klager, Where Lilacs Still Bloom is a story of triumph over an impossible dream and the power of a generous heart. “Beauty matters… it does. God gave us flowers for a reason. Flowers remind us to put away fear, to stop our rushing and running and worrying about this and that, and for a moment, have a piece of paradise right here on earth.”

A fascinating exploration of the natural history of scent and human perceptions of fragrance from the viewpoint of plant and pollinator Plants have long harnessed the chemical characteristics of aromatic compounds to shape the world around them. Frankincense resin from the genus Boswellia seals injured tissues and protects trees from invading pathogens. Jasmine produces a molecule called linalool that attracts pollinating moths with its flowery scent. Tobacco uses a similarly sweet-smelling compound called benzyl acetone to attract pollinators. Only recently in the evolutionary history of plants, however, have humans learned to co-opt their fragrances to seduce, heal, protect, and alter moods themselves. In this wide-ranging and accessible new book, biologist-turned-perfumer Elise Vernon Pearlstine turns our human-centered perception of fragrance on its head and investigates plants' evolutionary reasons for creating aromatic molecules. Delving into themes of spirituality, wealth, power, addiction, royalty, fantasy, and more, Pearlstine uncovers the natural history of aromatic substances and their intersection with human culture and civilization.