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Europa Editions
June 2012
On Sale: May 29, 2012
336 pages
ISBN: 1609450671
EAN: 9781609450670
Kindle: B007T94RIG
Hardcover / e-Book
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Fiction
Jean-Baptiste Baratte, an engineer of modest origin, arrives in the city in 1785, charged by the Kingโs minister with emptying the overflowing cemetery of Les Innocents, a ancient site whose stench is poisoning the neighborhoodโs air and water and leaving a vile taste in its inhabitantsโ food. At first the ambitious 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 both his own demise and that of the monarchy. Baratte expects the task to be unpleasant but cannot foresee the dramas and calamities it 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 work, exhuming of mummified corpses and listening to the chants of priests, 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.
 Media BuzzWeekend Edition Saturday - June 23, 2012
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