Publishers Weekly
02/13/2023
This scattershot chronicle by Levitt (A Short Bright Flash), a history professor at the University of Mississippi, gets lost in the weeds exploring the 19th-century French perfume industry. She purports to examine the careers of perfumers and chemists Édouard Laugier and Auguste Laurent and their quest to discover the chemical difference between organic and inorganic matter, delving into their attempts to distill from almonds a compound thought to be constant across living organisms, and outlining the theoretical disputes between Laurent and his mentor about the principles underlying chemical reactions. However, Laugier and Laurent’s story often takes a backseat to digressive and laboriously detailed accounts of the insular controversies and feuds of French perfumers, including a spat between a British chemist and a French pharmacist over a lucrative patent on one of the first artificial perfumes and the efforts of a descendant of the original purveyor of cologne to expand the family business. The meticulous discussions of the chemistry of perfume and how it is created will satisfy the most curious readers, but those with a more cursory interest will find their patience tested by exhaustive descriptions of the industry’s internecine squabbles. This struggles to stay on task. (Apr.)
The Times - Matthew Lyons
[A] fascinating account of the birth pangs of organic chemistry in 19th-century Paris…[Levitt] has caught well these dreaming, competitive, daring men in the act of living, each striving compulsively for the giddy, intoxicating bliss of insight into the making of the world.
Matthew Stanley
Elixir is a fascinating tale of discovery, wonder, and revolution. Beautifully written and deeply researched, it shows how the paths to artificial dyes, bottled soda, and Pasteur’s breakthrough all ran through a humble perfume shop. With remarkable historical and literary skill, Levitt reveals how the quest to supply queenly scents and Napoleon’s bathwater ended up interrogating the most profound questions of life and death.
Chapter 16 - Christoph Irmscher
[An] extraordinary book, which begins with perfumes and ends by having us think about the origin of life itself. Édouard Laugier would have approved.
Scientific American
Pulling from historical publications and personal writings, Theresa Levitt vividly explains why perfume—bathed in, lathered on, and orally consumed—had a chokehold on Parisian life.
Science - Michael D. Gordin
Almost impossible to put down…Written with the propulsive flow of a novel, [Elixir] unfolds in two interconnected but sequential stories, each following a scientific hero…A whirlwind tour from the point of view of pomades, perfumes, and eau de cologne.
Wall Street Journal - Moira Hodgson
[Elixir] vividly evokes cultural life in Bohemian Paris, the turbulence of the French Revolution and its aftermath, and the feuds that plagued rival scientists…Levitt’s social history, especially of perfume, is fascinating.
Times Literary Supplement - Sarah Everts
Focuses on early nineteenth-century bohemian Paris, where the movers and shakers in big-business perfumery battled for advantage against a revolutionary backdrop…The combination of careful research and anecdote in Theresa Levitt’s book makes reading about these entrepreneurs a pleasure.
The Economist
Comprehensive…Levitt is especially good at evoking the all-consuming nature of scientific rivalry.
David Kaiser
As Paris was rocked by waves of revolutionary zeal, and lines blurred between cosmetics and medicines, two ambitious young chemists raced to investigate whether there was something special—even unique—about matter that comes from living things. A riveting read!
Jimena Canales
At a time when the boundaries between scientists, salesmen, and charlatans were as blurry as productive, Levitt describes how investigations about health and hygiene were inseparable from the desire to smell good. The laboratories that gave us modern chemistry were not places where the disturbances of the outside world were kept out, but rather where they were welcomed in to be distilled and repackaged in their most intoxicating form. This highly original work shows us that scientific truth is not only messier than we have previously considered it to be—it is smellier.
Beth Ann Fennelly
‘Here is where the story begins,’ promises Levitt at the end of her prologue, and though it’s only page four, already we’re hooked. Who knew that the history of perfume would incorporate not only alchemy, botany, and fermentation, but intrigue, secrets, and scandal? This thoroughly researched tale is also thoroughly gripping and thoroughly readable. Elixir is a fabulous accomplishment.
Financial Times - Tony Barber
A delightful history of science and scent at the dawn of the modern age.
Kiese Laymon
If you read this book you will be changed. For those of us who make a living assembling words to describe smells, this book feels like an actual elixir. Absolutely stunning.
Aimee Nezhukumatathil
Dizzying and fragrant with elegant and riveting sentences, Levitt takes us on a most fascinating journey from the bloody revolutions to the chemistry labs of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century France, all to glimpse the glorious pursuit of scent. Truly a captivating achievement!
