The Precious Sandalwood Tree

In The Deadliest Lie, we see that although Miriam is betrothed to Noah, she falls in love with Judah, a jeweler with a shop in Alexandria’s agora. To have an excuse to visit him, she develops an interest in his study of alchemy. She tells about one such visit early in their relationship:

Leaning over my shoulder, close enough for me to sense the cloud of sandalwood around him, Judah pointed to the metallic samples, explaining how each represented a step in the transformation of copper into gold. At that moment, I was absorbed more by the cloud of sandalwood than the samples of copper. Unable to calm my yearnings let alone concentrate on his explanation, my senses reeling, my heart hammering, my breath quickening, I spun out of the chair intent on escaping the fire raging in my blood. Only to pitch into his arms.

Miriam had neither caught a glimpse of eternity nor plunged into the throes of a seizure. Aside from Judah’s charm, we can attribute her swoon to the fragrance of his sandalwood. The wood from these trees retains its fragrance for decades, making it one of the most expensive woods in the world with a soft, warm, smooth, creamy, and milky precious-wood scent that has been highly valued for centuries.

Vendors claim that you can gain a sense of calmness and improved mental clarity by using sandalwood’s essential oil. My claim is that you can get the same benefits for less from reading The Deadliest Lie. To find out more, just click here.