Book-scented Candles and Railway Dramas
We like books, here at The Tandem Collective, in case you hadn’t noticed. We like everything about them - mainly the contents, of course, over which we spend our lives poring, but also their physical presence; their weight, the endless and diverse spectrum of cover art in which we delight, and their smell. Admit it - at some point, you’ve stuck your nose deep into the pages of a book and taken a good sniff, haven’t you? It’s OK, this is a safe space. We’ve all done it. Every book seems to carry its own scent; whether it’s that ‘home smell’ if it’s a book that has sat on your shelf for years, or the fragrance of the perfume of the previous owner, or the scent of the pages themselves; paper, dust, sometimes leather, sometimes damp, sometimes fresh and woody.
As we enter Autumn, we’re getting increasingly cosy here at Tandem. The Oodies are on (don’t judge us) the hot chocolate is poured, we’re throwing a log on the fire and we’re settling in with our favourite cosy reads. We’re always fans of a good crime here - just ask Lex, who requires a moderate to high body count per book, or Alice, whose specialism is dark academia- but there’s something about Autumn, as the nights draw in and a chill touches the air, that makes it a particularly good time to settle down with a crime book. Imagine our delight, then, when West Byre Apothecary, our preferred home fragrance company, let us in on a sneaky secret; their Autumn fragrance release is called Short Stories, and it’s inspired by the scent of reading a story on an Autumn evening.
I know. I know - it’s everything we love. Allana Claydon, the human being behind West Byre Apothecary, is a fraud-fighting heroine by day, working in a global bank to protect our hard-earned pennies from marauding forces, and by night, she is a potions mistress; adept at sourcing, mixing and bringing the most delicious, evocative scents to life, each one inspired by a different form of self-care. As a solo female entrepreneur, Allana knows all too well how important switching off is; so she’s created a range of beautiful candles, diffusers, wax melts and burners to make creating your own moment of escapism each day as simple and as sumptuous as possible.
Her new scent, Short Stories, isn’t your typical sickly sweet pumpkin-spiced autumn scent. It’s deep, dark and mysterious, yet fresh, with notes of palo Santo, bergamot and mandarin. Palo santo is a sacred wood which has been used by shamans and those seeking a stronger spiritual connection with the world for centuries; a fragrant, beautiful white wood which burns with a scent of pine, mint and lemon. Palo santo is used to protect and purify our homes and spirits; to cleanse our energy, clear away any negative or harmful forces, and restore tranquility and calm. Mandarins, which come into season now, shine through with their vibrant orange autumnal hue and sensual, bright citrus scent bringing balance to the woody palo santo tones. The resulting fragrance is perfection; evocative of rustling pages, of sunlight filtering down through crunchy autumn leaves on a crispy cold day, with the added bonus of giving the user a bit of protection against any spooks that emerge as we creep towards Halloween.
Allana’s favourite reading genre - perhaps unsurprisingly, as she spends her days fighting it - is crime. She has a bit of a penchant for a good old-fashioned detective drama - which happens to be one of our faves, too. Earlier this year we caught up with a fellow real-life crime fighter and detective turned bestselling author Clare Mack for an interactive murder mystery evening, which awoke the inner detective in all of us. There’s something about being presented with tantalising titbits of information, a range of mysterious suspects, simmering tension and endless twists and turns which really gets us going when our everyday lives feel a bit humdrum. So we’re delighted that October is bringing us the release of The Dublin Railway Murder by Thomas Morris. A thrilling investigation of a true Victorian crime at a Dublin railway station, this is the true story of how Augustus Guy - Ireland’s most experienced detective - teamed up with Dublin’s leading lawyer to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of a railway worker. In 1856 George Little, a long-serving Chief Cashier at the railway station, was found dead, lying in a pool of blood under his desk. His office door was locked from the inside, and thousands of pounds of gold and silver were left untouched at the scene of the crime.
The case defied all explanations. Author Thomas Morris, a former Radio 4 researcher, has meticulously researched this murder mystery, drawing on a treasure trove of archive documents including original police interviews, secret government correspondence and investigations into key suspects. This genre-bending book reads as a fiction novel, but it is all true; which makes it all the more chilling. It’s the perfect read to delve into of a cold, dark Autumn night by the fire, with your Short Stories fragrance transporting and enveloping you, and perhaps a wee mug or glass of something tasty.
You can get your hands on a copy of The Dublin Railway Murder on October 27th via our Bookstore and Short Stories, the limited edition book-inspired Autumn scent from West Byre Apothecary, is available to buy from today at 7pm. The last limited edition scent sold out within minutes, so we’ve got you book fans covered - you can sign up for VIP access half an hour before general release at 6.30pm and 10% off right here! Run, don’t walk. You are welcome.
Happy bookish Autumn, everybody.