Underlying Notes

by Eva Pasco

Reviewed by Suzann Kale

Reading Eva Pasco's novel about a woman's mid-life transition was, for me, engrossing, fascinating, and complex. It left me informed and deepened.

Carla Matteo worked with her husband Joe since their marriage, building a successful business together. But she chose to pursue the business, even after she had trained for a career of her own, because she made the personal decision to show her love by working along side Joe to grow his company; his dream.

With midlife, however, complexities arose: in marriage, in family secrets revealed, and in friendships. With Carla there was also a restlessness. Carla wasn't sure she wanted to live out the rest of her days without having explored her own dreams, her own career. And so she quit the business she had been such an integral part of, and began her adventure.

Carla's was an internal adventure, filled with nuances, layers, secrets revealed, and "underlying notes" - just like the array of perfumes she's collected, studied, and befriended since childhood. When Carla "takes to the bottle," she's talking about the perfume bottle!

I found Carla's story captivating, not just in its content, but also because of author Eva Pasco's talent. Pasco's writing is like the scented labyrinths of her perfumes - we are treated to different layers of the story at different times. And when a "note" - or a story segment - comes together, it's as if the last piece of a puzzle turns the fragments into a whole picture.

Like the many layers of a fine perfume, all the pieces of Carla's seemingly separate puzzles do come together - and we see, along with Carla, how her life makes sense, how her transition into her new life comes to be.

I love the almost poetic style of Eva's novel. I love the obsession with and references to the perfumes her character has loved and lived with throughout her life. And Eva skillfully weaves in captivating "notes" about many of the perfumes' origins and the details of their ingredients.

Eva's attention to detail, too, was almost life-changing for me. How her character Carla went about calmly and carefully solving the mysteries of her life was an inspiration.

The essence of Underlying Notes will stay with me always. I totally recommend it 100%