Perfume

Patrick Suskind

This is quite possibly the best guide to perfumery you are ever likely to read. Suskind's debut has the same sense of detail and history that can be found in Peter Ackroyd's work, yet has a presence that is all its own. There is a depth to this novel that is truly astounding and the prose flows beautifully, not something you can always say for translations.

It opens with the birth of a very unusual child, a greedy baby entirely without smell, who goes through terrified wet nurses at a rate of knots. Despite lacking a smell of his own, his nose is unusually sensitive. The world of this orphan, unwanted child of a mother executed for infanticide, is one he builds up out of smells. It is the language with which he maps the world, spoken language being very much a secondary way for him to understand the world around him.

Misfortune follows his every step, not for him but for those around him. His draws to him a growing sense of evil and it helps him define his place in the world. He learns the smells of Paris with nothing off limits; from the seventeenth century stench of a big city to the more pleasant masking scents. He starts his apprenticeship as a tanner, abandoned and not expected to survive but thrives and is determined to find his way into the craft of perfumery. To begin his quest to produce the most incredible scents he has been mixing in his head.

He can be a blessing to those who exploit his skills, but that exploitation always carries a cost. Grenouille is one of the most fascinating anti-heroes I have come across in fiction. Amoral and inhuman; completely fascinating and following a unique path to find his place in history. The story flows in distinct phases, through his different careers, his experiments to find himself and his ambitions for the ultimate scent. Little is beyond his talents and he will stop at nothing to reach his ultimate destination.

One of the most consistently enjoyable literary journeys you can take, if not perhaps in the way you expect. While wrapped in its pages it will change the way you see the world, and if one thing only, it is a disturbing tribute to a very much under-appreciated scent.