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Perfume

By Patrick Suskind

By Patrick Suskind

By Patrick Suskind

By Patrick Suskind

By Patrick Suskind

By Patrick Suskind

Best Seller

Part of Vintage International

Part of Vintage International

Paperback $17.00

Feb 13, 2001 | ISBN 9780375725845

Hardcover $30.00

Sep 12, 1986 | ISBN 9780394550848

Ebook $9.99

May 14, 2014 | ISBN 9780804152976

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    Perfume by Patrick Suskind
    Paperback $17.00
    Feb 13, 2001 | ISBN 9780375725845

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    • Paperback $17.00

      Feb 13, 2001 | ISBN 9780375725845

      Buy from Other Retailers:

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    • Hardcover $30.00

      Sep 12, 1986 | ISBN 9780394550848

      Buy from Other Retailers:

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    • Ebook

      May 14, 2014 | ISBN 9780804152976

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    About Perfume

    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. 

    Translated from the German by John E. Woods.

    About Perfume

    The year is 1738; the place, Paris. A baby is born under a fish-monger’s bloody table in a marketplace, and abandoned. Orphaned, passed over to the monks as a charity case, already there is something in the aura of the tiny infant that is unsettling. No one will look after him; he is somehow too demanding, and, even more disturbing, something is missing: as his wet nurse tries to explain, he doesn’t smell the way a baby should smell; indeed, he has no scent at all.

    Slowly, as we watch Jean-Baptiste Grenouille cling stubbornly to life, we begin to realize that a monster is growing before our eyes. With mounting unease, yet hypnotized, we see him explore his powers and their effect on the world around him. For this dark and sinister boy who has no smell himself possesses an absolute sense of smell, and with it he can read the world to discover the hidden truths that elude ordinary men. He can smell the very composition of objects, and their history, and where they have been, he has no need of the light, and darkness is not dark to him, because nothing can mask the odors of the universe.

    As he leaves childhood behind and comes to understand his terrible uniqueness, his obsession becomes the quest to identify, and then to isolate, the most perfect scent of all, the scent of life itself.

    At first, he hones his powers, learning the ancient arts of perfume-making until the exquisite fragrances he creates are the rage of Paris, and indeed Europe. Then, secure in his mastery of these means to an end, he withdraws into a strange and agonized solitude, waiting, dreaming, until the morning when he wakes, ready to embark on his monstrous quest: to find and extract from the most perfect living creatures—the most beautiful young virgins in the land— that ultimate perfume which alone can make him, too, fully human. As his trail leads him, at an ever-quickening pace, from his savage exile to the heart of the country and then back to Paris, we are caught up in a rising storm of terror and mortal sensual conquest until the frenzy of his final triumph explodes in all its horrifying consequences.

    Told with dazzling narrative brilliance and the haunting power of a grown-up fairy tale, Perfume is one of the most remarkable novels of the last fifty years.

    About Perfume

    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. 

    Translated from the German by John E. Woods.

    Read An Excerpt

    Reading Guide

    Reading Guide

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    Reading Guide

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    Also in Vintage International

    The Rainbow
    Stella Maris
    The Passenger
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    About Patrick Suskind

    Patrick Süskind was born in Ambach, near Munich, in 1949. He studied medieval and modern history at the University of Munich. His first play, The Double Bass, was written in 1980 and became an international success. It was performed in… More about Patrick Suskind

    About Patrick Suskind

    Patrick Süskind was born in Ambach, near Munich, in 1949. He studied medieval and modern history at the University of Munich. His first play, The Double Bass, was written in 1980 and became an international success. It was performed in… More about Patrick Suskind

    About Patrick Suskind

    Patrick Süskind was born in Ambach, near Munich, in 1949. He studied medieval and modern history at the University of Munich. His first play, The Double Bass, was written in 1980 and became an international success. It was performed in… More about Patrick Suskind

    Product Details

    Category: Gothic & Horror | Literary Fiction

    Paperback | $17.00
    Published by Vintage
    Feb 13, 2001 | 272 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780375725845

    Category: Gothic & Horror | Literary Fiction

    Hardcover | $30.00
    Published by Knopf
    Sep 12, 1986 | 272 Pages | 5-5/8 x 8-3/8 | ISBN 9780394550848

    Category: Gothic & Horror | Literary Fiction

    Ebook | $9.99
    Published by Vintage
    May 14, 2014 | 272 Pages | ISBN 9780804152976
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    Praise

    “A fable of criminal genius . . . Remarkable.”
    —The New York Times

    “A supremely accomplished work of art, marvelously crafted and enjoyable, and rich in historical detail.”
    —San Francisco Chronicle

    “Reading Perfume is like being submerged in a dark pool of the senses . . . An original and astonishing novel.”
    —People

    “A strange and ingenius work of literature.”
    —The Boston Globe

    “Mr. Süskind himself is a perfumer of language . . . A remarkable debut.”
    —The New York Times Book Review

    “Beautifully researched . . . Brilliant.”
    —John Updike, The New Yorker

    “Immensely seductive . . . Storytelling at its best.”
    —The Kansas City Star

    “Mesmerizing from first page to last . . . A highly sophisticated horror tale.”
    —Cleveland Plain Dealer

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