Not-Meh

Returned Pure by Andrew Miller yesterday; I forget when I read it, but I liked it. I had read a review somewhere, I think, and ordered it from the library, and read it quite quickly, and with a good deal of enjoyment, when I got it. It's about a young engineer who gets as his first real job the unenviable task of digging up a centuries-old graveyard in the middle of pre-revolutionary Paris that is overflowing with bodies (and emitting noxious air). While some of the events were fairly predictable, overall the plot was interesting and imaginative and Miller did a good job limning day-to-day life in the city, in working-class & middle-class neighborhoods and Versailles, especially the dirt, grime, and smells of Enlightenment era cities. It also has a great cover (see the picture in the Telegraph article on Pure winning the Costa prize)