"The world consists of a dizzying movement of smells." People, animals, plants, objects, memories—all combine to form an olfactory pattern that runs through our lives and connects them. In her new text (2024), Japanese writer Ryoko Sekiguchi reveals a diary of smells—the stories of several women from different countries and eras, told through the prism of their olfactory impressions. Short stories alternate with quotes from books and reflections on the semiotic role of smells, questions about the properties and possibilities of fragrant molecules: what does mystery smell like? Is there a scent of shadow? And what about partings? Will we ever find the scents of those we once knew and loved? Sekiguchi considers smell not only as an "extension of presence" but also as a means of cognition capable of disrupting our habitual relationships with time and space.