Perfume

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is abandoned on the filthy streets of eighteenth-century Paris as a baby, but grows up to discover he has an extraordinary gift: a sense of smell more powerful that any other human{{~}}s. Gradually he learns how to exploit this gift in the art of creating the most sublime perfumes in France. Yet there is one odour he cannot capture: the scent of an innocent young virgin. In order to perfect his experiments, he must have this final ingredient - at any cost. A cult international bestseller, "Perfume" is a bewitching, darkly humorous fable of desire, obsession and death.

"Witty, stylish and ferociously absorbing."
Observer