Perfume

An erotic masterpiece of twentieth century fiction - a tale of sensual obsession and bloodlust in eighteenth century Paris

An astonishing tour de force both in concept and executionGuardian

In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages. His name was Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, and if his name has been forgotten today.

It is certainly not because Grenouille fell short of those more famous blackguards when it came to arrogance, misanthropy, immorality, or, more succinctly, wickedness, but because his gifts and his sole ambition were restricted to a domain that leaves no traces in history: to the fleeting realm of scent . . .

A fantastic tale of murder and twisted eroticism controlled by a disgusted loathing of humanity . .. Clever, stylish, absorbing and well worth readingLiterary Review

A meditation on the nature of death, desire and decay . . . A remarkable débutPeter Ackroyd, The New York Times Book Review

Unlike anything else one has read. A phenomenon . . . [It] will remain unique in contemporary literatureFigaro

An ingenious and totally absorbing fantasyDaily Telegraph

Witty, stylish and ferociously absorbingObserver