The Strange Journey of Alice Pendelbury

A sweet story that follows a young woman from post war Britain to Turkey as she searches for the answers to a mystery from her past. Alice Pendelbury is a " nose", she designs and creates perfumes, and her life is very ordinary until one day she visits a mysterious fortune teller in Brighton. The stranger tells her that she was born far away in the east and this confounds Alice immensely, as she was convinced that she was born in England. She tries to put it out of her mind, but finds herself pacing the floors at night as she ponders the mystery. Eventually her curmudgeonly neighbor is so fed up that he drives her back to Brighton, and finds himself drawn into the story too, so much so that he finances a trip to Turkey for them both. Could he be the first of the six people that the fortune teller has told Alice she will meet in her quest for answers? As the journey continues we meet truly fascinating characters that leap off the page, and gradually reveal the tragic secrets of Alice's past, while possibly having a role to play in her future.
Sweet, simple and moving, this charming tale was a pleasure to read, the author writes with real warmth and heart and has a truly impressive skill when it comes to bringing places vividly to life on the page.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

(If you've not read the book, you might consider some comments here spoilers. You are forewarned.)

The main character, Alice, has nightmares. She seems to remember places she's never seen. When a fortuneteller tells her (see what I did there?) that she needs to go on vacation, this penniless perfume-maker packs her bags. Lucky her, she's got a neighbor who's bored and flush with cash burning a hole in his pocket so money's no object and together they fly off to Turkey.

This story is set in a post-WWII world so flight is new and cell phones non-existent. Other than that, and the occasional sigh about wartime rations, we don't get a deep sense of the era. The focus is on this woman's past.

And what a past it is, tied to the Armenian genocide. What she discovers lays her nightmares to rest but raises the ugly nightmare that Turkey today still can't quite come to grips with. The Armenian genocide is a hefty subject to employ by a novelist and deserves as much sensitivity as any monstrous human act in history.

But rather than try to understand what happened or deal with the context, the author Marc Levy has constructed a fluffy story starring a woman for whom the discoveries of the dark times of her childhood mean nothing. She risks nothing. She is virtually unchanged by her newfound knowledge. At one point in Turkey she makes a decision: she will tell her traveling companion she wants to go back to London. But then she stays for months. And when she leaves Turkey with the intention of closing down her life in London to live permanently in Turkey, she apparently gives that notion up just as easily, appearing to return to London. There is nothing at risk here, she has nothing to lose. It's an easy journey, not strange.

So too her perfumery she runs out of her cold flat requires little effort from her other than some late nights. There's no sense of reality, just an idea of a young woman making perfumes, an idea that's intended to charm us, i suppose. But I find it hard to believe that a woman living alone in a London still shell-shocked and exhausted by war could not only find enough of the materials to make perfumes but in quantities large enough to sell in stores. Where are all the boxes, where are all the little bottles? Are they lined up under her bed? Is she making her own labels? It's a little fantastical.

The story is told through a lazy narrative with little zest for language or even the tools of drama. Some of the dialogue has spark and humor and even wit but the bulk of the action is told to us rather than shown. In his laziest moment, the author has the characters tell each other news through an exchange of letters and sadly they write no better than Marc Levy. Some commenters have blamed the translator for the leaden writing and sometimes clunky language but this isn't some ancient text from an unknown language. Though French, Marc Levy lives in New York so he's at least somewhat aware of English idioms and references. I think I've read books by other French authors who used techniques such as irony or juxtaposition to good effect. I would assume, even if he's writing his MS in French, translating to English wouldn't be a tough chore. So I put the blame squarely on Levy for this dullard of a book.

SPOILER ALERT: On a trip with friends, Alice Pendlebury runs into a fortune teller by chance, The future predicted sends her on a strange and incredible journey. This book is a good, quick read for historical fiction lovers. I thought the book would take a while to read but was surprised at how quickly I finished it. It did take a little to pick up. I think I was about thirty percent into the book before she actually began her journey. I like that you have the fortune teller's prediction in the back of your mind the entire time trying to figure things out and guess who she would be with at the end. The fashionista in me adored Alice's Cinderella moment in Christian Dior. It was an interesting exploration of Turkey and I don't think I'd mind a trip there myself. While some parts of the story dragged on, (particularly the back and forth exchange of letters when Daldry left Turkey) the ending came very quick. I do think there could have been more time with Rafael, and I'm bothered that things were not resolved with Anton. DIdn't he deserve an ending? Overall, I did enjoy the story and think this book would make a great travel/vacation companion.

so rare these days to sit down with a book that you never want to end! loved the story, I need more Alice & co. in my life!

I like this novel

Enjoyable, fast read

A different story type.

Pages falling out first day otherwise great book

It arrived very fast, and in excellent condition/ brand new.

A great combination: a mystery and great storytelling.