It is 1789, and three young provincials have come to Paris to make their way. Georges-Jacques Danton, an ambitious young lawyer, is energetic, pragmatic, debt-ridden–and hugely but erotically ugly. Maximilien Robespierre, also a lawyer, is slight, diligent, and terrified of violence. His dearest friend, Camille Desmoulins, is a conspirator and pamphleteer of genius. A charming gadfly, erratic and untrustworthy, bisexual and beautiful, Camille is obsessed by one woman and engaged to marry another, her daughter. In the swells of revolution, they each taste the addictive delights of power, and the price that must be paid for it.
My Take
I found this novel while looking for fiction related to France. I loved her Thomas Cromwell series and while this was not as good — I was not surprised to learn this was her first novel — I enjoyed this one as well. I found it harder to follow than Marge Piercy’s City of Darkness, City of Light. The shifting viewpoints and storytelling methods were sometimes hard to follow. Possibly because of poor formatting in the Kindle version. I refrained from reminding myself what really happened to the characters until I was finished. (I’ve read about this era before, but it’s been a while.) None of the main characters were terribly likeable, but they had their reasons.
I also just learned that Hilary Mantel died in 2022, and that at the time she was working on a new novel that was a “mash-up” of Jane Austen novels. Having just binge-watched several movies and series based on Jane Austen’s books, I am so disappointed!