Pure by Andrew Miller is set in Paris in 1785. It is the story of Jean-Baptiste Barrette, an engineer from Normandy, who is given the job of emptying Les Innocents, a cemetery. This novel revels in the detail of this interesting period in French history, when the order of things is beginning to change. At Versailles, where Barrette receives his instructions, the corridors and offices seethe with endless activity. In the streets of Paris walls are nightly daubed with inflammatory slogans. The engineer scopes out his task and brings a troop of miners to Paris. They begin the exhumation of human remains stockpiling them for transfer to the catacombs. The organisation of the work, the tools and techniques employed by the engineer and his crew form part of the fascination of this novel, as does the coalition of people Barrette brings together including the organist and sexton from the church at Les Innocents and a mysterious courtesan who becomes his lover. His task accomplished Barrette reports back to Versailles to find its corridors deserted - the only activity at the palace being the considerable excitement and effort being expended to remove the corpse of a dead elephant. Now what could that be about?