Patrick Süskind’s startling novel, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, chronicles the life of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a man in possession of a shrewd sense of smell. Intoxicated by the scent of a young virgin, he murders her in order to “capture” her fragrance, but soon realises it will disappear. “It’s not the same as it is in your memory,” he ponders, “where all scents are indestructible.”

Memory is linked to all our senses, but smell in particular can spark a range of emotions. While most of us will never go so far as to murder for a scent, we can empathise with Grenouille’s search for the perfect one – and the role memory plays in that search.