Yavor Siderov

Rose, The Human Story of a Scent, is a travelogue: part macro photograph of the world’s most desired flower, part observation of people and societies, communities and cultures across a wide ark of troubled––and some cosseted––lands that grow, admire and profit from it. Roughly following the Silk Road through Iran, Syria and Turkey, diverging via the Balkans and the Maghreb, then cutting through the more familiar territory of France and the United States, the book traces the origins, uses and abuses of rose oil, the rich and layered history of its production, trade and various mythologies, the human cost in picking and distilling it as well as its undisputed place as queen of scents.