'Gripping' The Times
'Irresistibly compelling' The Sunday Telegraph
Now, I am quite tempted to leave my blog post about this book at that. It was so incredibly good that the plethora of quotes decorating the cover were so justified I almost feel unable to add my very small voice to the fire. But, I will anyway.
Jean-Baptiste Baratte has arrived at the palace of all palaces, Versailles. Here he sits, across from another silent man, waiting for a silent door to open. He is comfortable in his father's suit, he knows it's true worth and his own, or at least he believes he does. A well-educated farmer, an engineer who has built one bridge, well really it was more of a decoration over a small lake, but he engineered it. Jean-Baptiste is a man, just like every other man. He will follow orders from a minister and take money to do as he is told, because that is the only way to make something of yourself. Well of course, this is France, Paris to be exact in 1785, a world that appears to be endless in it's inequality.
Jean-Baptiste is welcomed into the belly of the Parisian beast, he is given a job he is hardly qualified for and has great distaste for and yet, he will take it. He will stay in a house neighbouring a graveyard, a graveyard he has been hired to 'purify'. For Baratte, this place appears unhealthy, there is a stench that seems to come from people's very breath, from inside, a stench that comes from the earth, the cemetery, known as les Innocents, overflowing with death. This unsavoury realisation comes upon him while eating in his new lodgings in the Monnard's house, there is Monsieur Monnard who has his own shop that sells blades, Madame discusses the weather and Ziguette (their rather attractive young daughter) plays the piano badly and enjoys watching people in the street. Their home borders the cemeteries walls and they breath the very breathe of death. For Barette, he must deal with his demons, rally a whole troop to dig up the bones and dispose of the corpses, though of course the minister must have thought of that?!
Now, I really could go on and on, there are so many incredible characters (Armand, the organist, Jeanne, the granddaughter of the sexton, Leceour, the idealistic miner, Jan Block, Lisa Sagent, Helouise, the literary prostitute, Dr Guillotine and many many more), shocking developments, Baratte's adventures around town, the market, the infamous suit... I really could go on and on. But I do warn you, do not read the back blurb too closely, do not turn your copy over, just sit down and read it from the first page. Andrew Miller has a true gift, he makes prose that dances off the page in true unbridled purity. He can make even the most horrific moments appear to be poetic and yet, it is so powerful you find yourself trapped within the moments, almost reliving the horrors as you dream (though of course these dreams are better scripted than anything you could come up with yourself).
I would encourage you all to go out and fetch this book, as always a plea to go to a real bookshop or library (they do the real thing there too, only free!) and then find yourself a quiet place to sit down, for you shall not be moving for a long time! Read it, love it, share it, enjoy the luxuriating wonders of it, for it is truly a monumentally wonderful book. Oh and the cover is great too!
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