Perfume and Pain

Like Etat Libre d’Orange’s cult scent Sécrétions Magnifiques, Anna Dorn’s Perfume & Pain straddles the boundary between intoxicating and uncomfortable. Messy, indulgent and, at times, disarmingly earnest, it’s a love letter to lesbian pulp fiction, reality television, perfume and women – authors and otherwise – with lashings of sex, drugs and Cat Power.

Astrid Dahl is a three-time published novelist, first of a Kardashian fanfiction turned bestseller, and most recently of a novel that both lampoons and celebrates the lesbian fascination with astrology (perhaps initials are not the only thing Anna Dorn shares with her protagonist). We meet Astrid fresh off the back of a dramatic breakup, an attempt at (semi) sobriety and a career-damaging but not career-ending cancellation. Feeling judged by the Sapphic Scribes writing group she helped found, her agent, her friends and her emotionally distant parents, she has built herself a safe, cosy (and most importantly semi-stable) life in her carefully curated apartment, and her latest book has just been optioned by the vanity production company of the biggest starlet of the moment. But when her landlady suddenly needs the space just two months into her lease, Astrid is unceremoniously handballed into another condo, which would be fine if not for the shared garden and the patchouli-scented neighbour who keeps inviting herself into Astrid’s life. 

What follows is somewhat akin to a sweaty, sexy car crash, as Astrid pinballs from self-sabotage to disaster to triumph and back, all under the unwelcome eye of her nosy neighbour Penelope. Bursting at the seams with literary (and not so literary) references, a rich cast of supporting characters and lesbian gossip, Perfume & Pain is a sensory treat, best served with a beer (in a glass fresh from the freezer) and a new perfume to discover.