The Glutton

Based on a true story, "The Great Tarare" is a novel of desire and destruction in Revolutionary France. Sister Perpetue is tasked with guarding the room of a patient known as The Great Tarare, who has a reputation for consuming all manner of creatures and objects. Despite his slender frame, he is the one they once called The Great Tarare, The Glutton of Lyon. After being cast out and left for dead, his appetite ignites, and he becomes a marvel throughout the land due to his extraordinary abilities to eat.

Format: Hardback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 21 September 2023
Publisher: Granta Books

One man, with an insatiable hunger, a novel of desire and destruction in Revolutionary France, based on a true story, from the Desmond Elliott Prize-winning author of The Manningtree Witches. Sister Perpetue is not to move. She is not to fall asleep. She is to sit, keeping guard over the patient's room. She has heard the stories of his hunger, which defy belief: that he has eaten all manner of creatures and objects. A child, even, if the rumors are to be believed. But it is hard to believe that this slender, frail man is the one they once called The Great Tarare, The Glutton of Lyon. Before, he was just Tarare. Well-meaning and hopelessly curious, born into a world of brawling and sweet cider, to a bereaved mother and a life of slender means. The 18th Century is drawing to a close, unrest grips the heart of France, and life in the village is soon shaken. When a sudden act of violence sees Tarare cast out and left for dead, his ferocious appetite is ignited, and it's not long before his extraordinary abilities to eat make him a marvel throughout the land.

One man, with an insatiable hunger, a novel of desire and destruction in Revolutionary France, based on a true story, from the Desmond Elliott Prize-winning author of The Manningtree Witches. Sister Perpetue is not to move. She is not to fall asleep. She is to sit, keeping guard over the patient's room. She has heard the stories of his hunger, which defy belief: that he has eaten all manner of creatures and objects. A child, even, if the rumors are to be believed. But it is hard to believe that this slender, frail man is the one they once called The Great Tarare, The Glutton of Lyon. Before, he was just Tarare. Well-meaning and hopelessly curious, born into a world of brawling and sweet cider, to a bereaved mother and a life of slender means. The 18th Century is drawing to a close, unrest grips the heart of France, and life in the village is soon shaken. When a sudden act of violence sees Tarare cast out and left for dead, his ferocious appetite is ignited, and it's not long before his extraordinary abilities to eat make him a marvel throughout the land.

Weight: 444g
Dimension: 223 x 145 x 35 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781783789191