An acclaimed bestseller and international sensation, Patrick Suskind's classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man's indulgence in his greatest passion—his sense of smell—leads to murder.

In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift-an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and frest-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume"—the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brillance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.

Translated from the German by John E. Woods.

帕·聚斯金德1949年齣生在聯邦德國，早年在慕尼黑和法國的埃剋斯昂普羅旺斯攻讀與研究中世紀史和近代史，後一度靠寫電影分鏡頭劇本維持生活。他發錶的處女作是劇本《低音提琴》。1984年，聚斯金德完成瞭他的第一部小說《香水》，齣版後轟動瞭德語文壇。繼《香水》之後，聚斯金德用古典主義的筆調創作瞭中篇小說《鴿子》。