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Perfume

  • Patrick Süskind

3.72

69 ratings

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • Set in eighteenth-century France, the classic novel that 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 fresh-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 brilliance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.

Genres

  • Historical fiction
  • psychological thriller
  • dark fantasy
  • coming-of-age
  • murder mystery
  • obsession
  • perfume
  • scent
  • olfactory
  • senses
  • identity
  • love
  • loneliness
  • 18th century France
  • Fiction, suspense
  • France, fiction
  • Fiction, historical, general
  • Perfumes
  • Odors
  • Murderers
  • Fiction
  • Parfum (Motion picture)
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About the author

  • Patrick Süskind

    born March 26, 1949

    3.75

    87 ratings · 81 works

Editions

  • Edition cover

    Tea

    2014

  • Edition cover

    Diogenes Verlag AG

    2012

  • Edition cover

    Diogenes

    June 1994

  • Edition cover

    Diogenes Verlag AG

    December 31, 1998

Edition cover

Booket

2016

  • Edition cover

    1a ed.

    Austral

    2018

  • Edition cover

    Círculo de Lectores, Círculo de Lectores, 1987, Barcelona.

    1986

  • Edition cover

    Planeta, Seix Barral

    1987

  • Edition cover

    RBA

    1992

  • Edition cover

    Booket

    2011

  • Edition cover

    Seix Barral

    1997

  • Edition cover

    RBA

    1992

  • Edition cover

    Seix Barral

    1986

  • Edition cover

    Planeta Colombiana

    2013

  • Edition cover

    Booket, Seix Barral

    2006

  • Edition cover

    1a ed.

    Seix Barral

    1999

  • Edition cover

    imusti, Penguin Books

    Mar 01, 2010

  • Edition cover

    Świat Książki

    2008

  • Edition cover

    Vintage

    May 14, 2014

  • Edition cover

    Penguin Audio

    May 1, 1997

  • Edition cover

    Azbuka-klassika

    2005

  • Edition cover

    Círculo de Lectores

    2006

  • Edition cover

    1st Vintage International ed.

    Vintage International

    2001

  • Edition cover

    Penguin Books, Penguin

    2006

  • Edition cover

    Langenscheidt Fachv., M.

    February 1, 2002

  • Edition cover

    1a ed.

    Seix Barral

    1985

  • Edition cover

    Fayard

    January 25, 1991

  • Edition cover

    Di 1 ban

    Shanghai yi wen chu ban she

    2005

  • Edition cover

    Azbuka, Amfora

    1999

  • Edition cover

    Fayard, Livre de Poche

    2003

  • Edition cover

    Fayard

    1996

  • Edition cover

    Penguin Books

    1987

  • Edition cover

    Kaeyŏkpʻan

    Yŏllin Chʻaektŭl

    1995

  • Edition cover

    Le Livre de Poche

    2006

  • Edition cover

    Le Livre de Poche

    2006

  • Edition cover

    Diogenes

    June 1, 2002

  • Edition cover

    1a Edizione TEADUE

    Tascabili Editori associati S.p.A.

    1992

  • Edition cover

    Azbuka

    2002

  • Edition cover

    Fayard

    1995

  • Edition cover

    Mentor

    1997

  • Edition cover

    Livraphone

    April 10, 2003

  • Edition cover

    7th ed.

    Psyhoyios

    1987

  • Edition cover

    Knopf

    1986

  • Edition cover

    Fayard

    2001

  • Edition cover

    Dai 1-han.

    Bungei Shunjū

    1988

  • Edition cover

    Sinpʻan

    Yŏllin Chʻaektŭl

    2000

  • Edition cover

    Pocket Books, Washington Square Press

    1991

  • Edition cover

    Chu ban

    Huang guan wen hua chu ban you xian gong si

    1992

  • Edition cover

    Chu ban

    Huang guan wen hua chu ban you xian gong si

    2006

  • Edition cover

    Fayard

    1986