The Botanical Garden (Green Integer)

Like Jean Frémon's 1994 novel Island of the Dead (winner of the PEN Translation Prize), Frémon's earlier Le jardin botanique (The Botanical Garden) is a rich, philosophical work filled with the petty jealousies, gossip, and the intellectual joys of the workers of Paris' Jardin de Plantes. A darkly joyous celebration of individuals and their language.