Perfume - Patrick Suskind

The events of the novel begin in the year 1738, when the protagonist, Jean-Baptiste Gronouille, is born in a Parisian fish market. Despite the desire of his mother, who is accustomed to abandoning her children as a murderer, to get rid of the infant by throwing him in the middle of a heap of rubbish, her matter will be revealed when passers-by and market-goers notice the cries of the child clinging to life. Thus the child is saved and his mother is taken to execution. After that, a wet nurse takes care of Gronoy, but she soon gives up his upbringing due to her apprehension and fear of the absence of any trace of any smell in the infant's body. A monk grabs the infant Gronouille after the wet nurse relinquishes him in custody, but is soon alienated from him in turn by the disturbing way in which Gronouille uses his sense of smell. The infant ends up in Ms. Gaillard's orphanage, which shelters children for a fee.

Number of pages: 264