PERFUME.

PERFUME. by Suskind, Patrick. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780241119198.

Again he closed his eyes. The scents of the garden descended upon him, their contours as precise and clear as the coloured bands of the rainbow. And that one, that precious one, that one that mattered above all else, was amongst them. Grenouille turned hot with rapture and cold with fear. Blood rushed to his head as if he were a little boy caught red-handed, and then it retreated to his solar plexus, and then rushed up again and retreated again and he could do nothing to stop it ... In a year or two this scent would be ripened and take on a gravity that no one, man or woman, would be able to escape. People would be overwhelmed, disarmed, helpless before the magic of this girl ... And none of them will know that it is truly not how she looks that has captures them, nor ther reputed unblemished external beauty, but solely her incomparable, splendid scent! He wanted to have that scent ... and to make it his own. Ultimately it ought to be no more difficult than robbing a rare flower of its perfume.