A (Virtual) Evening With Timothy Schaffert
Written By: Chloe Kessler (Outreach and Events Manager)
The first pages of local author Timothy Schaffert’s latest novel, The Perfume Thief, usher the reader into the mind of Clementine: a 72-year-old gender-fluid reformed ex-con with a knack for concocting signature perfumes for her clients and companions in Nazi-occupied France. We walk the streets of 1941 Paris through her keen eyes, encountering Nazi intelligence officers, French cabaret singers, and queer Parisians hiding their identities from Nazi surveillance. The pages are peppered with beautiful sensory and historical details from a time full of life under the constant threat of death. When a (secretly) Jewish cabaret singer entrusts Clementine with the task of stealing her perfumer father’s book of recipes from a Nazi intelligence officer occupying his house, Clementine must employ her powers of deception as well as her emotional earnestness to befriend and deceive the officer and steal the book, engaging in a deadly dance with the powers she opposes.
Indigo Bridge had the pleasure of (virtually) hosting Timothy Schaffert via Zoom for a reading and Q&A on January 29. We dedicated the month of January to spotlighting some of Nebraska’s incredible local authors, and Schaffert graciously agreed to chat with us about his latest book and his writing process. Schaffert grew up on an 80-acre farm in Hamilton County, Nebraska (and is now the Susan J. Rosowski Professor and Director of Creative Writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln) although you wouldn’t know it by reading The Perfume Thief. His detailed accounts of the streets, cafes, and cabarets of Paris might make the reader think that he managed to get his hands on a time machine and had been holed up to write in an apartment in Nazi-occupied Paris for the past few years.
Schaffert talked about his research process and shared many interesting tidbits he learned about perfume (and specifically, its theft) throughout history. Our conversation with Schaffert revealed why 1941 Paris comes to life so clearly on the page. He examined Vogue archives and historical documents from World War II to piece together a richly-textured picture of the luxury and anxiety of the period. Schaffert’s characters live between identities (man or woman, black or white, Nazi or Parisian) and embody the struggle between wanting to be seen and invisible. Under the threat of Nazi Germany, every choice–no matter how small–is imbued with meaning, so perfumes and costumes serve as more than just fun and frivolous distractions during the war; they serve as statements, ways to celebrate identity in a space where doing so could be deadly.
During our conversation, Schaffert described his somewhat whimsical inspiration for his character, “The Perfume Thief,”: she had a cameo role in one of his previous novels, and he decided she deserved to have her own story told at length. Schaffert explained how Virginia Woolf’s novel Orlando (a fictional biography of a transgender poet who lives over 300 years) also inspired his gender-fluid protagonist. He noted how he originally planned to follow 100 years of Clementine’s life in the novel but ultimately decided against it. Smiling, he shared that he injected a bit of himself into his character by giving her his birthday (but precisely 100 years before his own). Schaffert’s love for his eponymous character was clear from our conversation; he managed to capture on both the page and in (virtual) person the complexity of her identity as a con man and thief as well as an earnest storyteller and friend fueled by her love for Paris and her somewhat unconventional role in the underground French resistance.
We enjoyed getting a glimpse into Schaffert’s process and inspiration for his novel, and we would love to welcome him back in the future (once we can again safely have an in-person audience). If you would like to meet Clementine or any of Schaffert’s other inspired characters and read some of his riveting works of historical fiction, we carry many of his novels (including The Perfume Thief) in our pop-up shop and online through BookShop.
