Pure cover art

Pure

From the Booker shortlisted author of The Land in Winter

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Pure

By: Andrew Miller
Narrated by: Jonathan Aris
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About this listen

 WINNER OF THE COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD (2011)

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 other he has lived.


Deep in the heart of Paris, 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.

(P)2012 Hodder & Stoughton©2012 Andrew Miller Classics Europe Fiction France Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Romance World Literature

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Critic reviews

His recreation of pre-Revolutionary Paris is extraordinarily vivid and imaginative, and his story is so gripping that you'll put your life on hold to finish it
Vivid and compelling
Enthralling . . . superbly researched, brilliantly narrated and movingly resolved
Elegant
Quietly powerful, consistently surprising, Pure is a fine addition to substantial body of work
Almost dreamlike, a realistic fantasy, a violent fairytale for adults
Every so often a historical novel comes along that is so natural, so far from pastiche, so modern, that it thrills and expands the mind. Pure is one . . . Exquisite inside and out, Pure is a near-faultless thing: detailed, symbolic and richly evocative of a time, place and man in dangerous flux. It is brilliance distilled, with very few impurities
It draws you in with hallucinatory power to seething Paris on the brink of revolution . . . images remain in your mind long after you reach the last page
Superb . . . The writing throughout is crystalline, uncontrived, striking and intelligent. You could call it pure
Miller writes like a poet, with a deceptive simplicity - his sentences and images are intense distillations, conjuring the fleeting details of existence with clarity. He is also a very humane writer, whose philosophy is tempered always with an understanding of the flaws and failings of ordinary people . . . Pure defies the ordinary conventions of storytelling, slipping dream-like between lucidity and a kind of abstracted elusiveness . . . As Miller proves with this dazzling novel, it is not certainty we need but courage
A work of beauty embroidered by Miller's exquisite gift for poetic description . . . it is a delight. And though a historical novel with decay its running theme, the writing is dazzlingly fresh and modern
A pacey, well-constructed narrative in which rape, suicide, love and unexplained deaths all play a part. Miller wears his learning lightly and infuses his story with humanity and warmth
The book pulls off an ambitious project: to evoke a complex historical period through a tissue of deftly selected details
Very atmospheric . . . Although the theme may sound macabre, Miller's eloquent novel overflows with vitality and colour. It is packed with personal and physical details that evoke 18th-century Paris with startling immediacy . . . If you enjoyed Patrick Süskind's Perfume, you'll love this
Alive to the dramatic possibilities offered by late-18th-century Paris, a fetid and intoxicating city on the brink of revolution . . . Miller intimately and pacily imagines how it might have felt to witness it
Miller generates dynamic comedy and drama from juxtaposing the earthy, bodily realities of the Enlightenment against lofty aspirations of reason and progress. It's engrossing historical fiction
All stars
Most relevant
I really enjoyed this book. The whole atmosphere was very true to the period. It was well-written and despite continually filling me with a slight sense of dread, I liked it! I finished it a couple of weeks ago and to my surprise have found myself missing it. It somehow gets to you.

I thought the read was quite good. Not outstanding but definitely didn't detract from the story.

A great glimpse of pre-revolutionary France

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well written. captivating. Exposes the hollowness of all-consuming ambition. I will read his other novels

Exposes the hollowness of all-consuming ambition

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A great book of such an interesting historical period, with some truly memorable characters and great twists and turns in the story itself. Extremely evocative of pre-revolutionary France and the amazing city that was/is Paris. Brilliant.

Great book, great narrator, well worth a download

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An informative and thoughtful read. I was engrossed from the beginning. A great read by an author at the top of his game.

Atmosphere created

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The setting is intriguing, as you can see from the publisher's details; the handling of the story and the gradual descent into darkness with the counterpoint of the development of sincere love are clever. The use of language is often almost poetic, a delight to listen to. However, at times all these elements just tip over the fine line between the satisfying and the irritating and strain the suspension of belief. It is rather a shame that Jonathan Aris sometimes has trouble with the pronunciation of the (numerous) French names, as in every other way he is a masterly reader. All in all, worth listening to but not, for me, a book of the year.

intriguing and clever but sometimes overdone

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