The Pure Story!

Back in the Summer (it seems so long ago now) we read Pure by Andrew Miller. Sue Lewin has kindly done some research to find out more about the story behind the story and here it is.

During the eighteenth century the burial grounds of Paris were as appalling as those of London; in the case of the Cimetière des Innocents in the Halle district, perhaps even more so. Since the fourth century this ground was the main burial place in the city, particularly for the poor. During the fourteenth century huge pits holding up to 1500 bodies were left open until full. It is estimated that over the centuries between two and six million bodies were buried here.

By 1780 conditions at les Innocents had become intolerable. Around 90,000 corpses had been added in the previous 35 years, the whole area stank, and the soil was incapable of decomposition. In the district, it was claimed that meat rotted within hours and wine turned to vinegar. In May, following heavy rain, The weight of the dead in a burial pit had caused a collapse in nearby cellars and people were asphyxiated.



The ground was closed for burials around 1782, and cleared during the winters of 1785-6. The charniers were emptied and the ground cleared out to a depth of 6 feet . The remains were carted across Paris and deposited in the catacombs.



The Square of the Innocents today.


Thanks Sue - I am feeling a Book Group outing coming on!

A Quick Look Back - Laurie Lee and Slad

In the not so sunny summer of 2011 we read and fell in love with Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee. So much so that some of us even went on a pilgrimage to Laurie Lee's home village of Slad and visited some of the places in the book.

This afternoon I had a lovely surprise, while driving home from a business meeting, as Radio 4's Open Country broadcast their visit to Slad. It was a lovely programme so I thought I would share the listen again link, which also has some lovely photographs.

Click here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b039d4bq

And as I have it on my radar to try and add some of our older reviews to this blog, here is our review from our meeting back in August 2011.

Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee - August 2011

Our discussion began with total agreement that this was a very enjoyable book that was so beautifully written it was poetry.

Though almost in living memory the world of Laurie Lee was so different to our own and was written at a time when rural life was changing. Most striking was the references to noise: it seems that from arriving in a silent place the noise grew as Laurie did.

The prose masks a hard life and did not shock or horrify as other tales of the time could (and would have done). Stories of bringing up other people’s children alone, murder, dying in the workhouse, suicide, hunger, cold, terrible accident are all presented, with an underlying beauty, by a poet with a rose tinted childhood memory. In fact despite the harsh reality the stories make you laugh out loud - often.

We drew alignment to our last book – Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson – in the fact that Laurie Lee is writing from memory about personal experience and passion. Events were muddled in time and embellished as he does, or would wish to, remember things.

Our discussion (far lengthier than our notes here suggest) let on to how life in Ashendon would have been during Laurie Lee's childhood, when many of the houses were tiny cottages with large families and farm work was the main employment. Much like Slad we thought, so we ended our chat with an idea that we should perhaps have a Book Group outing to Slad.