Pure (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781609450670)

The clearing of a cemetery stokes the fires of revolution in eighteenth-century France in this Costa Prize-winning "novel of ideas disguised as a ghost story" (The New York Times).

Paris, 1785. An ambitious young engineer, Jean-Baptiste Baratte arrives in Paris charged with emptying the overflowing cemetery of Les Innocents, an ancient site whose stench is poisoning the neighborhood's air and water. A self-styled modern man of reason, Baratte sees his work as a chance to clear away the burden of history. But he soon suspects that the destruction of the cemetery might be a prelude to his own fate--and the demise of the social order. 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 sets him on a path of discovery and desire, as well as relentless labor, assault, and sudden death.

"Pure is a compelling, timely novel--with its throb of revolution, of ordinary people arising in anger--a narrative that takes death as its subject yet races with life."--The Guardian

Author: Andrew Miller
ISBN-10: 1609450671
ISBN-13: 9781609450670
Publisher: Europa Editions
Language: English
Published: 05/29/2012
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.30w x 1.10d
Award: International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award - Finalist

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 04/15/2012 pg. 37
New York Times Book Review 06/03/2012 pg. 18
New York Times Book Review 06/10/2012 pg. 30
New Yorker (The) 06/18/2012 pg. 83
Publishers Weekly 09/24/2012
Publishers Weekly Best Books 11/05/2012 pg. 26