From the sizzling sharpness of freshly cut garlic to the cool tang of a father's aftershave; the heady intoxication of a fumbled first kiss to the anodyne void of disinfectant and death, this is a decadently original olfactory memoir. In sixty-three elusive episodes we roam freely across the countryside of Lorraine, north-east France, from kitchen to farm to a lover's bed. Recognising the bittersweet nostalgia of a scent that slips away on the summer breeze, Claudel demonstrates again his exquisite grasp of the personal and the universal, interweaved with a rare self-deprecating charm. This is an evocative patchwork at once earthy and ethereal, erotic and heart-breaking, Claudel permits us to share moments that have driven him to delight or despair, creating through the fading aromas of the past garments of humour, insight and quite intangible beauty.