The Scent-Keeper by Erica Bauermeister is the story of Emmeline, a young girl living with her father on an island isolated (mostly) from the rest of the world. Her father invented a machine to capture and preserve scents the way a camera preserves images. The girl and her father both live in a world known more through scent than through any of the other senses. The plot is structured around Emmeline’s quest to discover how she came to be on the island, who her parents really are, and how she fits into the world. The story reads like a fairy tale, allegory, and coming-of-age novel all rolled into one and the descriptions of scent are amazing and, for me, opened up a world that is right under our nose, if we only follow the scent and let it speak to us. Here is what Kirkus Reviews says
