We first became aware of when he won the Impac Dublin Award for his novel Ingenious Pain. Set at the beginning of the Enlightenment, that novel made the rounds of MR booksellers amid much conversation and enthusiasm. So it came as no surprise to us when was awarded this year's Costa Book Award in the UK for his newest novel Pure. Here goes back to the Enlightenment, deep in the heart of Paris, where its oldest cemetery is, by 1785, overflowing, tainting the very breath of those who live nearby. Into their midst comes Jean-Baptiste Baratte, a young, provincial engineer charged by the king with demolishing it.
At first Baratte sees this 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.
Take a chance on . You won't be disappointed.
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A year of bones, of grave-dirt, relentless work. Of mummified corpses and chanting priests.A year of rape, suicide, sudden death. Of friendship too. Of desire. Of love...A year unlike any...
Ingenious Pain tells of the rise, fall and redemption of an extraordinary man, whose lack of compassion is physical: he is unable to feel pain. Born in the West Country, in the mid-eighte...
