The Case Against Fragrance Audiobook By Kate Grenville cover art

The Case Against Fragrance
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The Case Against Fragrance

By: Kate Grenville
Narrated by: Belinda McClory
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Kate Grenville had always associated perfume with elegance and beauty. Then the headaches started. Like perhaps a quarter of the population, Grenville reacts badly to the artificial fragrances around us: other people’s perfumes and all those scented cosmetics, cleaning products and air fresheners.

On a book tour in 2015, dogged by ill health, she started wondering: what’s in fragrance? Who tests it for safety? What does it do to people? The more Grenville investigated, the more she felt this was a story that should be told. The chemicals in fragrance can be linked not only to short-term problems like headaches and asthma but to long-term ones like hormone disruption and cancer. Yet products can be released onto the market without testing. They’re regulated only by the same people who make and sell them. And the ingredients don’t even have to be named on the label.

This audiobook is based on careful research into the science of scent and the power of the fragrance industry. But, as you’d expect from an acclaimed novelist, it’s also accessible and personal. The Case Against Fragrance will make you see - and smell - the world differently.

©2018 Kate Grenville (P)2018 Audible, Ltd Career Success Motivation & Self-Improvement

Editorial Review

Sensitive to smell

Kate Grenville is a novelist and sense-triggered migraine sufferer with some questions: What is fragrance made of, how is it regulated, and what is it doing to our bodies? In this well-researched and skeptical exploration of what’s (quite literally) under our noses, Grenville reports that the smells we covet are often made from questionable, and even known carcinogenic, substances—and there’s little being done to regulate them. Hidden in the elusive label parfum are ingredients such as hydroxyphenol, linalool, ethylhexyl palmitate, hexyl benzoate, methyl phenylacetate, formaldehyde, and more. Everything from the air we breathe to the clothes we wear contains chemical cocktails that Grenville alleges could be making you sick. This debut audiobook performance from narrator Belinda McClory (best known for her role as Switch in The Matrix) delivers exactly what a perfume promises: allure, hypnotism, and delight—without the potential side effects. As a migraine sufferer myself, I’m looking forward to seeing if choosing unscented products and politely asking my friends to forgo the cologne will positively affect my health. —Rachael X., Audible Editor

All stars
Most relevant  
I am a Fragrance sufferer as well! The whole world should read this book including the FDA! I hope that in the immediate future, fragrance will be viewed the same as cigarette smoke! It’s probably just as bad, and this author proved it! It’s time to mobilize!

Everyone Must Read This!

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I didn’t know what to expect when I first picked up this book, but the information I gained by reading cover to cover has changed my life (and hopefully those around me).
It doesn’t matter what walk of life you come from, you will benefit from this book. You will be more aware of the air we breathe, things we touch and the people with whom we share our company.

Oh my goodness!

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This book came at the perfect time for me. I am one with scent sensitivity and deal with it in the workplace. I would enjoy reading this for a book club, it would invoke much discussion and debate. It will take you on a scent journey. Kate Grenville did a great job researching!

Very Enlightening

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