A year of bones, of grave-dirt, relentless work. Of mummified corpses and chanti
ng priests. A year of rape, suicide, sudden death.
Of friendship too. Of desi
re. Of love...A year unlike any other he has lived.
Deep in the heart of Pari
s, its oldest cemetery is, by 1785, overflowing, tainting the very breath of tho
se who live nearby. Into their midst comes Jean-Baptiste Baratte, a young, provi
ncial engineer charged by the king with demolishing it. At first Baratte sees th
is as a chance to clear the burden of history, a fitting task for a modern man o
f reason.
