Jitterbug Perfume is Tom Robbins' fourth novel and was listed on the New York Times Best Seller list in 1985. It is widely considered a cult classic. The book follows two interweaving storylines, one in Ancient Eurasia and one in the present day. Darkly humorous and "presented in an idiosyncratic fictional style", the story connects dueling perfumers in Seattle, Paris and New Orleans to a bottle of incomparable perfume created by two unlikely but defiant lovers of the past who seek immortality. Orchestrated by a mysterious Irish philosopher, the past and the present collide when the characters come together and discover the unexpected path to life-everlasting. The book was first published in 1984 by Bantam Books and later published by Random House.