The book
Andrew Miller’s new novel is vividly realized fiction played out against the rich cacophony of Paris on the cusp of the French Revolution.
Jean-Baptiste Baratte- an ambitious young engineer of modest origin- arrives in the capital in 1785, charged by the King’s minister with emptying the overflowing cemetery of Les Innocents, an ancient site whose stench is poisoning the neighborhood’s air and water.
At first Baratte sees his work as a chance to clear the burden of history, a fitting task for a modern man of reason. But before long he begins to suspect that the destruction of the cemetery might be a prelude to his own fate and to the demise of the social order.
Baratte cannot foresee the dramas and calamities his task will trigger, or the incident that will transform his life. As unrest against the court of Louis XVI mounts, the engineer realizes that the future he had planned may no longer be the one he wants. His assignment becomes a year of relentless effort, a year of assault and sudden death. A year of friendship, too, and of desire and love. A year unlike any other he has lived.
The author
Andrew Miller
Andrew Miller is one of Britain’s leading novelists. He has won the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Novel Award. His bestselling novel Pure, a Costa Book Award winner, has received widespread acclaim and was a best-seller for Europa in 2012. The Slowworm’s Song is his ninth novel.
Press
- May 22 2015
Hopeless Bibliophile: "PURE is packed to the brim with metaphor and symbolism." - Sep 26 2014
Publishers Weekly Names Andrew Miller's "Pure" One Of The Best Historical Novels - Nov 26 2013
Bookpage.com: Diane Setterfield recommends Pure - Oct 15 2013
The Cottage Book Shop: "[Pure] is not easily forgotten." - Jul 29 2013
Strange Thoughts Blog: "This is a wonderful novel." - Jun 24 2013
National Post: "...Miller has written excellent novels set in other eras, but the 18th century is his summer cottage of the imagination..."