A Mother’s Day Seduction

With Mother’s Day upon us, those of us who have lost our moms can find the day bittersweet. As author and occasional January Magazine contributor, MJ Rose, says eloquently in a fond remembrance at The Huffington Post, “I always miss my mom. Mother’s Day would be just one more day I’d feel her absence but for the relentless commercialization. Thanks to that, this day is even harder to deal with.”

And though all of our moms are special, to a booklover, Rose’s mom sounds like she was especially cool. Among other things, Rose recently shared on Facebook, “Her job before she had me was as a short story editor at Good Houskeeping -- assistant to Judith Krantz.”

Sadly, Rose’s mom never got to read any of her books, though Rose feels her influence in so many aspects of her own life to this day. “So for Mother’s Day,” Rose writes in her HuffPo piece, “I thought in tribute, I’d list the books on her shelves that she gave me  (or I snuck) to read. The ones I remember. The ones she loved or admired the most.” You can see Rose’s list here.

Rose’s dozen critically acclaimed novels were joined by a new one just this last week. Seduction (Atria) is a beautiful ghost story. Once again, Rose weaves a present day tale with a strong thread locked in history. In Seduction, a grief-stricken Victor Hugo, exiled to the Isle of Jersey, struggles to contact his beloved dead daughter in the afterlife… and comes in contact with some of the big names of myth and history: Plato, Shakespeare, Jesus and even the devil.

Meanwhile, in the present, a mythologist battling her own demons, comes to Jersey looking for secrets about the island’s Celtic roots. She’s been invited by an old friend who has a dark motive: Hugo’s lost conversations with a dark and evil force.

Seduction is twisty, sensuous and ultimately satisfying.

New Today: The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose

I have been a fan of M.J. Rose’s since the publication of her very first novel, Lip Service back in 1999. Rose’s work tends to speak to me in special ways, something I’ve commented on in reviews over the years. Her writing seems to rap up all of the elements of story that just delight me. There is an elegance to her voice, even when the stories she shares are at their most suspenseful.

I not only like how she writes, I like what she writes about, too. Her stories tend to contain threads from the world of art and, quite often, there are elements of the sensuous and even the paranormal. But these are hints and threads. Despite all apearances, at their core, Rose’s books are always deeply human and startlingly real.

Knowing all of these things, I’ve been looking forward to spending some serious quiet time with The Book of Lost Fragrances, out today from Atria. From the jacket copy:

A sweeping and suspenseful tale of secrets, intrigue, and lovers separated by time, all connected through the mystical qualities of a perfume created in the days of Cleopatra--and lost for 2,000 years.

Jac L'Etoile has always been haunted by the past, her memories infused with the exotic scents that she grew up surrounded by as the heir to a storied French perfume company. In order to flee the pain of those remembrances--and of her mother's suicide--she moved to America. Now, fourteen years later she and her brother have inherited the company along with it's financial problems. But when Robbie hints at an earth-shattering discovery in the family archives and then suddenly goes missing--leaving a dead body in his wake--Jac is plunged into a world she thought she'd left behind.

Back in Paris to investigate her brother's disappearance, Jac becomes haunted by the legend the House of L'Etoile has been espousing since 1799. Is there a scent that can unlock the mystery of reincarnation - or is it just another dream infused perfume?

The Book of Lost Fragrances fuses history, passion, and suspense, moving from Cleopatra's Egypt and the terrors of revolutionary France to Tibet's battle with China and the glamour of modern-day Paris. Jac's quest for the ancient perfume someone is willing to kill for becomes the key to understanding her own troubled past.

Exciting stuff, right? All this from the writer whose work inspired the television series Past Life and whose reincarnation-focused books are always so much better than the show. The Book of Lost Fragrances is a treat to look forward to. I can’t wait! ◊


Linda L. Richards is the editor of January Magazine and the author of several books.

New in Paperback: The Hypnotist by MJ Rose

M.J. Rose’s star is one we’ve been watching rise since the earliest days of January Magazine. Because of that, it’s gratifying to see the rest of the world coming to terms with something we’ve known all along: Rose is a terrific author who writes books worth spending time with. Her work is thoughtful, intelligent and always delves deeply into topics worth considering.

I talked about The Hypnotist in this space last June. The new paperback edition, released today, will make the book available to an even wider readership.

The Hypnotist is the third book in this series, after The Reincarnationist and The Memoirist. Of the three, The Hypnotist is far and away my personal favorite. This is due in one part to the fact that Rose is a writer who seems committed to sharpening her voice and her skills: every book really is better than the last. The other part, for me, is thematic. In The Hypnotist Rose returns to some of the themes I really enjoyed in her earlier works -- notably 2002’s breathtaking Flesh Tones -- a book that was never given the attention it deserved. These are themes that Rose does as well as anyone currently writing, notably art and love and how those things can impact one upon the other.

The Hypnotist was among my favorite books of 2010. As I said in my review from last year, “The Hypnotist is a stunningly satisfying read. Thoughtful, fast-paced and subtly sensual, this is one of the best books thus far from a really terrific writer.”

Fiction: The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose

The prolific and talented M.J. Rose has long been known to January Magazine. To us, sometimes she feels like a personal discovery. Back in the late 1990s, we were among the first to review her self-published novel, Lip Service. So it’s pleasing to be able to report that, more than a decade on, this author just keeps getting better and better.

We see this clearly in her latest outing, The Hypnotist (MIRA Books), the most recent book in her bestselling Reincarnationist series that was also the inspiration for Past Life, the Fox television series that aired this spring.

The Hypnotist is the third of this series, after The Reincarnationist and The Memoirist. Of the three, The Hypnotist is far and away my personal favorite. This is due in one part to the fact that Rose is a writer who seems committed to sharpening her voice and her skills: every book really is better than the last. The other part, for me, is thematic. In The Hypnotist Rose returns to some of the themes I really enjoyed in her earlier works -- notably 2002’s breathtaking Flesh Tones -- a book that was never given the attention it deserved. These are themes that Rose does as well as anyone currently writing, notably art and love and how those things can impact one upon the other.

In The Hypnotist we again meet Dr. Malachai Samuels, director of The Phoenix Foundation, dedicated to the examination and evaluation of past lives.

FBI agent Lucian Glass can’t forget the murder of the young painter who was his lover. When a crazed art collector begins destroying masterworks, Lucian goes undercover at the Phoenix Foundation where he is taken on an incredible journey that vaults him to ancient Greece, 19th century Persia and more modern destinations. In the process, Lucian discovers a plot to steal Hypnos, the 1500-year-old sculpture of the Greek God of sleep: a work of art that is rumored to hold an incredible secret. Along the way, Rose fans a controversial flame: is art owned by a museum or the country in which the piece originated?

The Hypnotist is a stunningly satisfying read. Thoughtful, fast-paced and subtly sensual, this is one of the best books thus far from a really terrific writer.

Review: Matrimony by Joshua Henkin

Today, in January Magazine’s fiction section, M.J. Rose spends some time with Matrimony by Joshua Henkin. Says Rose:

’Tis the season of matrimony. At least that’s true when it comes to television, where I’ve been watching Tell Me You Love Me, HBO’s new sex-soaked series about marital discontent, and American Movie Classics’ Mad Men, which, despite its focus on 1950s advertising men, is ultimately a show about marital discord. In her New York Times essay “Say, Darling, Is It Frigid in Here?” Alessandra Stanley notes that not since Thirtysomething has television been so preoccupied with marriage ... and miserable marriages at that.

Yet this season’s most compelling depiction of marriage isn’t a TV series but a book. Joshua Henkin’s Matrimony is a brilliant, beautifully written novel that tracks a couple from the time they meet in college until 20 years later as they approach middle-age.

The full review is here.