In Search of Perfumes is a fragrant journey across the world, revealing the beauty and mysteries of the perfume trade. Fruits, flowers, spices, bark, leaves, and branches are just some of the natural ingredients from the plant world that are used in the creation of perfume. Dominique Roques, travelling from Andalusia to Somaliland by way of Bulgaria, Laos, El Salvador, Indonesia and Egypt, describes his search to find the best natural ingredients, precious to perfumers everywhere. In Search of Perfumes demonstrates how the prestigious multi-million-pound perfume industry may begin its life as a single plant harvested by producers surviving on ancestral traditions and techniques and often risking their lives in the process as they combat the rising threat of climate change. Roques reveals the beauty and mysteries of a familiar trade; a return to the source of the world's scents.

'[An] immersive debut... with detailed accounts of his trips and vivid descriptions of the scents ... Roques' rich travelogue will transport readers' Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) In Search of Perfumes is a fragrant journey across the world, revealing the beauty and mysteries of the perfume trade. Fruits, flowers, spices, bark, leaves, and branches are just some of the natural elements used in the creation of perfume. Dominique Roques, on his expeditions to Andalusia, to Somaliland, Bulgaria, Laos, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Australia and Egypt, tells of his search to secure the best natural ingredients, precious to perfumers everywhere. He meets flower pickers in Bulgaria and India, gum distillers in Andalusia, patchouli and lavender growers, sandalwood planters, vetiver and bergamot distillers – who all belong to a three-thousand-year-old industry which offers perfumers rose and jasmine, oud and incense, benzoin and vanilla.