Recommendations from our site
“Where Süskind’s book excels is in its sensory evocation of the period. The protagonist, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, moves through the underbelly of mid-18th-century France, from Paris to Grasse, following the exquisite sense of smell that is his blessing and his curse.” Read more...
Historical Novels Set In the 1700s
Francesca de Tores, Novelist
“This is probably the best-known work of fiction about perfume and the perfume industry. It’s a crime novel by a German author which was also made into a movie. It’s a very lush, richly imagined book. It just bursts with sensuality and the smells of Paris in the 18th century. And not just good smells, but also the smell of raw sewage running in the streets, or of horse manure. It’s about a lowly orphan boy who happens to be gifted with the olfactory equivalent of perfect pitch. He apprentices with perfume makers. He’s a very odd creature, and eventually he decides that he wants to create a perfume that will make people do his bidding. It will be so stupendous that it will overwhelm people and he can rule the world with this perfume.” Read more...
Denise Hamilton, Journalist
