This is me reading the first chapter of my memoir, Coming to My Senses: A Story of Perfume, Pleasure and an Unlikely Bride (Viking/Penguin, 2012). I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to download and share, and do let me know if you'd like to hear more of the book.   

Coming To My Senses, Chapter One, "The Beautiful Surprise"

A brief excerpt from the first chapter of my memoir, Coming to My Senses, about what happens when I have to tell my brainy, activist friends that I've gotten interested in perfume. This is the section I often use to introduce myself and the book at my readings.

"I'm standing in the corner with my drink..." Short Excerpt 1 from Chapter 1 of Coming to My Senses

A short passage from the first chapter of Coming to My Senses that is nothing but descriptions of scents and scent memories. Pure pleasure.

"The scent of dry summer heat..." Short Excerpt 2 from Chapter 1 of Coming to My Senses

A short excerpt from the end of Chapter 1 of Coming to My Senses. The last few paragraphs of this section go right to the heart of the book for me.

"Someone gets my phone number" Short Excerpt 3 from Chapter 1 of Coming to My Senses

A short excerpt from my memoir, Coming to My Senses, describing the very glamorous but doomed bride I once saw  while working as a server at a wedding and why she has haunted me. 

"like so many agitated tulips" Short Excerpt 4 from Coming to My Senses

A short excerpt from my memoir, Coming to My Senses, from near the end of the book, in which I talk about "sillage," or the trail a perfume creates, and tell the story of a sillage encounter I once had on the street in New York.

"A little bit of sillage..." Short Excerpt 5 from Coming to My Senses

A short excerpt from my memoir, Coming to My Senses. It describes my first encounter with the glamour and carnal power of vintage perfumes--French classics made with materials that are no longer available today--and my longing to know a little of what our mothers and grandmother knew when they wore them.

Vintage Perfumes and Our Scandalous Grandmothers, Short Excerpt 6 from Coming to My Senses

A recording of May Swenson's poem, "Question," for the Poetry Foundation's Record-a-Poem project.

"Question" by May Swenson read by Alyssa Harad

Hello! I'm a writer living in Austin, TX. You can learn everything you need to know about me (and much, much more) by checking out my website, my twitter feed or my memoir, Coming to My Senses. If you still have questions feel free to drop me note.

Alyssa Harad

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