Winner of the Costa -Best Book of the Year- and -Best Novel- Award 2011
Andrew Miller's new novel is vividly realized fiction played out against the rich caophony of Paris on the cusp of the French Rveolution.
Jean-Baptiste Baratte-an ambitious young engineer of modest origin-arives 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...