Fate guides Grenouille to his destiny when one day he is asked to deliver some hides to Mr. Guiseppe Baldini, a washed-up parfumier. The hides are to be used to create gloves for a count, who has requested that they be scented with something nice, something like "Amor and Psyche," he says, the latest blockbuster perfume of Baldini's rival. With no original ideas of his own, Mr. Baldini is about to plagiarize the formula of his competitor's best-selling scent, when suddenly Grenouille slithers into his shop to deliver the hides. Grenouille twists and snorts, and claims that not only can he re-create Amor and Psyche for Mr. Baldini, but that he can actually make it better. Grenouille's challenge proves true, and a beautiful relationship between unscrupulous perfumer and toad-like tanner is forged.  As the perfumer's secret apprentice, Grenouille works his magic behind the curtain, while Baldini takes all of the credit.

But the relationship is not as one-sided as one would think. Just as a cockroach happily feeds off of the fallen crumbs from a plumber's meatball sandwich, so does Grenouille revel in his new profession. For not only is he creating exquisite perfumes, mixing a little lavender oil with some neroli and civet, but he is also learning how to create the oils themselves, using the techniques of maceration, cold-pressing and enfleurage—techniques that later prove very useful in his quest to create the perfect scent.

Will Grenouille break the shackles that chain him to Baldini's shop and forge out on his own? Will he succeed in capturing the virgin essence? What fate is in store for a murderer who bears no scent and yet is capable of creating the most beautiful perfumes the earth has ever known?

Read the book and find out, chérie!

August, 2000

Bibliography:

Süskind, Patrick. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986.