I did this book over a year ago, and I'm way behind on my Net Galley reviews. This book is still memorable to me because I can still hear the narrator from a year ago. I can still remember the respect and love the characters had for each other. I can still see the calligraphy and smell the scents. I am still heart broken at their separation and the scenes from the fire and the India Pakistan split is still vivid in my mind.
My only contention with this book is that it's a bit too long, but I understand that generational stories take a while. I enjoyed the listen. Well done.

In 1938, young Samir Vij locks eyes with Firdaus Khan across his family’s perfume shop. Over the years, they fall in love, dreaming of a future with each other. However, India is falling apart, and their city is destroyed in the partition. Now, Hindu Samir is Indian, but Muslim Firdaus is Pakistani, and the two are not allowed to see each other again. The two never forget each other but must decide what from the past to let go of in order to live again.

This was a fantastic and heartbreaking read. In addition to Samir and Firdaus’s love story, I enjoyed learning about perfume making, calligraphy, the British Indian army, and the partition. Despite the length of the book, the story was well told, and I wasn’t ready for it to end. The characters were well-developed and realistic. I highly recommend this book to those who enjoy historical fiction and family sagas.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an audio ARC of this book.

This was an epic love story and a fantastic debut. I felt like it was a touch too long though and had a hard time getting into it at the beginning. Once I got invested in the lives of the characters and the time period the story really flew by. Great on audio and perfect for fans of The stationery shop. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

The Book of Everlasting Things by Aanchal Malhotra was her debut novel. Her prose was almost lyrical. The research for The Book of Everlasting Things was impeccable. I was immediately drawn into the story of this multi-generational saga. The art of perfumery was fascinating to learn about as well. The Book of Everlasting Things was about discovery, love, customs, tragedy, loss, culture and history. There were five parts to The Book of Everlasting Things. It was a rather long audiobook ( 17 hours and 22 minutes) but I was so invested in the story that I didn't seem to mind. The Book of Everlasting Things was well plotted and the characters were well developed, endearing and believable for the most part. I really enjoyed listening to The Book of Everlasting Things and I highly recommend it.

Readers who love lyrical writing with rich sensual descriptions are probably going to adore this timeless story that weaves calligraphy, perfume and love. This historical fiction takes place in 1930’s Lahore. I wanted to love this book and get swept into the prose but, unfortunately for me, the writing style didn’t work.

I received an audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I did not finish this book after 32%; this was based solely on personal reading preferences and should not reflect poorly on the book. I expected, and tend to enjoy, adventures with a dash of history and for me this had a lot going on and was historically heavy. These two things are really what had me stop, as I didn’t not want to push what wasn’t there. That said, I have only good things to say about what I did listen to.

The story itself is beautifully written. The way the storylines intertwine, the way the affection builds, and insights to historical occurrences is insightful but also really well done. There were so many times the prose, pacing and all around composition of this book had me pausing in awe. It’s not often you get that in writing, especially in historical fiction.

The narrator, Deepti Gupta, did a fantastic job bringing this story to life. The way she conveys the anguish and turmoil, the coldness, the joy, she is absolutely a narrator I would listen to again.

Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, and Flatiron Books for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

I was given a NetGalley widget for this one a year ago and I just got around to reading it and dangit it was so good. I am so thankful for the opportunity to have consumed this wildly relevant fictional tale, which felt not at all fictional, more like historical fiction, due to the times. The cover initially was what drew me in, but I'm so thankful to have stuck with it because the outcome was magical. I always love listening to audiobooks and when they sweep me off my feet, I'm just utterly captivated!

Dear The Book of Everlasting Things,
You had such a poetry and beauty to your story. You reminded me a lot of A Little Life and All the Light We Cannot See. You were an epic tale that gave me an entire lifetime, and taught me about the history of Partition and how it divided a nation, and families. This is not a time period that I was familiar with at all, so I feel like I learned so much. The fact that each of the main characters were associated with their special calling, calligraphy and perfume and discovering how often they crossed over, it was fascinating. Samira and Fadus' love story is one for the times, a more tragic Romeo and Juliet.

Toward the end of the year, I was truly in the mood for a fantastic epic to usher me into a fresh year. Unfortunately, the pacing and lack of intrigue in the early chapters of this long book kept it from being what I hoped.

Unfortunately, I had a hard time listening to The Book of Everlasting Things. However, I do appreciate the audiobook being narrated by the proper language, I just felt like the English had a thick accent. It was hard for me to hear and understand no matter the adjustment of the audio speed.

This entire novel is beauty for the sake of beauty. It focuses on the beauty of two very specific arts and the beauty found in young love. Unfortunately, the character development suffers from this. The characters come out flatter than they should, being more embodiments of their craft than full people. The story is more about how these artistic avatars are bounced through a difficult world than about them as people.

This kept me hooked into the family saga! I would recommend to others. The narrator was not my favorite for the audiobook, I would recommend a different narrator.

I only read a brief description of this novel before reading, but thought the premise was so fascinating. THE BOOK OF EVERLASTING THINGS, Set in 1938; A Hindu perfumer and a Muslim calligrapher, set against the backdrop of partition. Right away, I was drawn to the story of two lovers and two nations split apart by forces beyond their control.

I love when books feature the senses, and I could completely picture this story as it unfolded. I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by Deepti Gupta, and really enjoyed it! The novel was well written and the characters were so vibrant and full of life, making the narration come off the pages.

*many thanks to Flatiron and Macmillan Audio for the gifted copy for review

The audiobook just couldn’t keep my interest.
I will try reading the ebook or physical book later and see if I will enjoy it better

This was a very long audiobook. 15+ hours. I listened at 2.5-3x speed to get through it in a reasonable period of time.
I really enjoyed the opening section about the person training as a perfumer with his uncle. My husband was a perfumer for ~20 years. The story rang true, which I really appreciated. The author performed the research required, or had the personal experience with perfumery, to create a realistic setting.
The historical setting of the division of India into 2 countries was fascinating. The basic premise involves a couple and their families caught in the division, one Hindu, one Muslim. The novel follows both of their lives and reads like an epic. It is beautifully written. The characters are well-developed. The narrative is full of wisdom and philosophical commentary without being high-brow. That balance can be hard to strike, but this author did it very well.
The novel ended with a very satisfying conclusions to everyone's story.
Recommended to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, historical romance, and/or family epics.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Atmospheric, engaging, and excellently narrated. A recommended purchase in all formats for most collections.

This was a beautifully written story that spanned a full century, from the battlefields of World War I, to the post World War II partition of Hindustan that created the modern countries of India and Pakistan, to the second decade of the 21st century. It traced the lives of two families, the Hindu Vij family of perfumers and the Muslim Khan family of calligraphers from the markets of Lahore where their paths first crossed to Paris, France.

Ten-year-old Samir Vij was spellbound when he first encountered the young Firdaus Khan in his family's ittar (fragrance) shop in Lahore. As the two grew into young adulthood, they developed a close friendship that was blossoming into love just as the multi-ethnic city of Lahore exploded in religious riots and fires that tore families and friends apart, destroyed many sections of the city, and separated the two young people.

Some readers may find the extensive descriptions of the distillation process that leads to perfumes based in flowers, herbs, and spices; I personally found it fascinating for the most part. The characters in this novel are very well-developed, and the vivid descriptive detail about their surroundings made brings the city and countryside to life. The novel moves forward at a steady pace to a bittersweet conclusion that I found just perfect. I recommend this book very highly to those who enjoy historical fiction and family sagas.

The Book of Everlasting Things is a multiple generational tale focusing on two “star-crossed lovers” Samir Vij and Firdaus Khan. Though this story is less about familial strife a la Romeo and Juliet, and more about a cultural crisis as their beloved Hindustan is torn apart by Partition into modern day India and Pakistan.

Both Samir and Firdaus are creative apprentices, he a perfumer, and she a calligrapher, in the busy city of Lahore. Their home, the Paris of the East, is a beautiful melting pot and the cultural center of Punjab. For centuries Indians have lived peacefully together in this city full of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, but Partition has decided to separate them in a violent way leaving Lahore in the new country of Pakistan, where Muslims are the majority and Firdaus’ family is safe to stay. Samir, a Hindu, is forced from his home and across the border into India, where is life is about to take an entirely different trajectory than he could have ever expected.

Initially I had trouble following the story as the cultural dialect is very different from other books I have read, but once I got the hang of the language, I found myself lost in a beautiful love story that crosses multiple generations and multiple continents. The perfumer’s descriptions alone had me longing to have a bespoke fragrance made. The only drawback in my personal opinion is the story felt a little more as Samir’s story than Firdaus’ for most of the novel. I wish there was a little more to her story throughout rather than mostly the beginning and end of her life.

Thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Audio, and of course Aanchal Malhotra for the advanced copy of the book. The Book of Everlasting Things is a fabulous debut that will stick with you long after the last page.

Audiobook received for free through NetGalley

I absolutely adored this audiobook, the story, and the narrator. At first the book felt long but I was gripped by the story and loved the daily company as I did dishes, etc. absolutely adore the characters, the scenery, the perfume, the calligraphy, and the years that past. Could see listening to it again in several years.

It feels like a privilege to have read this story about family, love, trauma and the intergenerational impacts of partition. This beautifully written historical fiction is set in pre and post-partition Lahore, Grasse, and Paris spanning eight decades following two families – the Vijs and the Khans. Samir Vij and Firdaus Khan meet as children in Samir’s uncle’s ittar shop. For the next ten years, Samir and Firdaus fall in love with each other. But, in the 1940s, with the rumours of a future partition between India and Pakistan, violence in Lahore where all religious sects once lived together, Samir, a Hindu, and Firdaus, a Muslim, find themselves thrown into different “sides” of this fight. As their love becomes forbidden, Samir and Firdaus make certain decisions that change the course of their love story.

I loved, loved, loved the amount of historical information included in this novel. From Sepoys to the history of calligraphy to ittar making to the showcasing how partition permanently impacted families and communities. I cannot wait to dive into Malhotra’s history books on partition.

Loved the narration of this book!