Perfume: The Story of a MurdererINTERNATIONAL 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. |
Contents
Section 1 | 31 |
Section 2 | 45 |
Section 3 | 48 |
Section 4 | 51 |
Section 5 | 80 |
Section 6 | 115 |
Section 7 | 119 |
Section 8 | 124 |
Section 9 | 165 |
Section 10 | 178 |
Section 11 | 189 |
Section 12 | 194 |
Section 13 | 199 |
Section 14 | 222 |
Section 15 | 251 |
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Common terms and phrases
already appeared arms Baldini beauty better blossoms body bottle breath Chénier child closed clothes completely course created dark death distilled door drop everything eyes face fear felt finally followed formula fresh girl glass Grasse Grenouille Grenouille's ground hair hand head heart held human hundred knew later least less light lived longer looked Madame matter mixing morning move murderer needed never night nose odor once Paris passed Pélissier perfume perhaps person pomade possessed possible pressed produce pulled Richis river rose scent seemed sense side simply sleep smell soul standing step stood street suddenly thing thought thousand took town turned waited walked wall wanted week whole wood young