The Perfume of Eros

Set among the wealthy families of Fifth Avenue, this novel follows Royal Loftus, a charming man whose appetite for a new conquest pulls several lives toward ruin. Around him move Fanny Price, the woman he is expected to marry, and Marie Durand, the shopgirl he cannot leave alone. Edgar Saltus writes their entanglement with a hard eye for the vanity and self-interest hiding under polite society, and the affair moves steadily toward scandal and violence. Published in 1905, the book carries the dry wit and gloomy fatalism that ran through much of Saltus’s work. It is a brisk, cutting look at desire and its consequences among people used to getting what they want. Free PDF and EPUB editions are available to download.