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6 Historical Fiction Books Set During the French Revolution

October 24 2023
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While history can often provide a rich source of text, filled with intriguing firsthand accounts and countless theories about the “why” of it all, it can also be, well, boring. Enter: historical fiction. With talented literary authors at the helm, readers are treated to, yes, some facts and important historical context, but also a thrilling plot, unforgettable characters, and very often, an epic conclusion as the revolution rages on in the background.

As the French Revolution is widely considered one of the three best revolutions, and also according to historian Chris Gaudio (that’s me—I have a degree in history), I thought it wise to compile of list of 100 percent, genuinely unputdownable historical fiction novels set during the French Revolution.

The Glutton
by A.K. Blakemore

A.K. Blakemore’s sophomore novel, THE GLUTTON, opens in 1798 France in a Versailles hospital room where Sister Perpetué waits on a man to die. According to rumors, this man, now sickly and at death’s door, was once accused of having an insatiable appetite. Readers are then introduced to Tarare, the Glutton of Lyon, who was born in 1772, and soon after was nearly beaten to death by his stepfather. As a teenager, Tarare is forced to flee his home, and falls in with a group of vagrants headed to Paris. It is there that he develops a voracious appetite, which is instantly capitalized on by the group's leader, who forces him to entertain others by eating all manner of objects (corks, animal corpses, entrails, etc.) in exchange for money. As the war intensifies, Tarare uses his “talents” as a soldier and eventually as a spy. His story has its own twists and turns alongside the revolution, leaving us captivated and at times horrified, but such is the story of a character pushed to the edge of society. This is a novel written with immense compassion.

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The Glutton
A.K. Blakemore

MOST ANTICIPATED by The Guardian Paste Magazine LitHub The Millions Library Journal

From the prizewinning author of The Manningtree Witches, a subversive historical novel set during the French Revolution, inspired by a young peasant boy turned showman, said to have been tormented and driven to murder by an all-consuming appetite.

“There are few writers who can be truly likened to Hilary Mantel, but Blakemore is one.” —The Observer

1798, France. Nuns move along the dark corridors of a Versailles hospital where the young Sister Perpetué has been tasked with sitting with the patient who must always be watched. The man, gaunt, with his sallow skin and distended belly, is dying: they say he ate a golden fork, and that it’s killing him from the inside. But that’s not all—he is rumored to have done monstrous things in his attempts to sate an insatiable appetite…an appetite they say tortures him still.

Born in an impoverished village to a widowed young mother, Tarare was once overflowing with quiet affection: for the Baby Jesus and the many Saints, for his mother, for the plants and little creatures in the woods and fields around their house. He spends his days alone, observing the delicate charms of the countryside. But his world is not a gentle one—and soon, life as he knew it is violently upended. Tarare is pitched down a chaotic path through revolutionary France, left to the mercy of strangers, and increasingly, bottomlessly, ravenous.

This exhilarating, disquieting novel paints a richly imagined life for The Great Tarare, The Glutton of Lyon in 18th-century France: a world of desire, hunger and poverty; hope, chaos and survival. As in her cult hit The Manningtree Witches, Blakemore showcases her stunning lyricism and deep compassion for characters pushed to the edge of society in The Glutton, her most unputdownable work yet.

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The Sisters of Versailles
by Sally Christie

You can’t tell the story of the French Revolution without also telling the story of King Louis XV, and Sally Christie’s THE SISTERS OF VERSAILLES does just that. The story finds a young Louis almost a decade into his marriage, seemingly bored and eager for new, exciting sexual escapades. To that end, Louis XV’s circle sets out to find suitable options for His Majesty and eventually lands on the Nelse sisters. Of the five sisters, four of them—Louise, Pauline, Diane, and Marie-Anne—eventually find themselves in the king’s bed. As daughters of a depraved father and a much-maligned mother, the sisters quickly engage in a power struggle as they each seek to become Louis’s favorite. While the sisters fight among themselves, using any opportunity to inflict pain on one another, readers learn of the stark contradictions between life in the luxurious halls of the monarchy and that of those only barely surviving across the land, as the country inches toward revolution. Smart, gripping, and impressively researched, THE SISTERS OF VERSAILLES is a unique exploration of family dynamics.

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The Sisters of Versailles
Sally Christie

Were you scandalized by Madame Nesle de la Tourelle’s costumes at Louis XV’s Versailles? Would you be surprised to learn that four of her sisters were also mistresses to the king? Sally Christie reimagines the lush Versailles court in all its excesses and offers up a complex exploration of power and sisterhood.

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Finding Emilie
by Laurel Corona

Set on the eve of the French Revolution, during the Enlightenment, Laurel Corona’s FINDING EMILIE centers on Lili, the daughter of physicist Emilie du Châtelet, following her mother’s death only six days after her birth. Left in the care of Parisian salon hostess Julie de Bercy, Lili grows up alongside Julie’s own daughter, Delphine—though their lives take very different paths. While Delphine dreams of a life being married to an aristocrat, Lili, much like her mother, prefers a life of intellectual pursuits. Together the two girls push Julie to her breaking point; but Lili always ensures Delphine is safe and happy, despite struggling on her own journey of self-discovery. To that end, Lili spends time with intellectual leaders such as Voltaire and Diderot, all the while seeking to learn more about her mysterious mother amid the early rumblings of the revolution. A vivid portrait of a woman’s life in eighteenth-century France, FINDING EMILIE is filled with all the dramatic tension and beauty of a true coming-of-age story.

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Finding Emilie
Laurel Corona

Woman is born free, and everywhere she is in corsets. . . .

Lili du Châtelet yearns to know more about her mother, the brilliant French mathematician Emilie. But the shrouded details of Emilie’s unconventional life—and her sudden death—are elusive. Caught between the confines of a convent upbringing and the intrigues of the Versailles court, Lili blossoms under the care of a Parisian salonnière as she absorbs the excitement of the Enlightenment, even as the scandalous shadow of her mother’s past haunts her and puts her on her own path of self-discovery.

Laurel Corona’s breathtaking new novel, set on the eve of the French Revolution, vividly illuminates the tensions of the times, and the dangerous dance between the need to conform and the desire to chart one’s own destiny and journey of the heart.

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6 Historical Fiction Books Set During the French Revolution

By Chris Gaudio | October 24, 2023

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Madame Tussaud
by Michelle Moran

It’s 1788 and Marie Tussaud is a simple wax sculptor working at her uncle’s museum, the Salon de Cire, in France. There’s nothing simple about the mastery required to create such exquisite works of art, and Marie, in all her ambition, knows that if she can get an audience in front of the king, her life could reach new heights. As luck would have it, the royal family comes to her, and the king’s sister is so taken by Marie’s work that she is invited to Versailles to serve as a royal tutor. Living a life she could only have dreamed of, Marie engages in the luxury of the court, meeting many famous faces (Benjamin Franklin, Dauphin, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and more), even befriending Marie Antoinette. Life here is much different from that of a commoner and soon the disparity between rich and poor becomes too much and the revolution begins. Marie must navigate the turmoil carefully or she might lose everything. A breathtaking account of the woman now most known for her famous wax museum, Michelle Moran’s MADAME TUSSAUD is a riveting work of historical fiction that seeks to add a face to the name we all know.

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Madame Tussaud
Michelle Moran

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6 Historical Fiction Books Set During the French Revolution

By Chris Gaudio | October 24, 2023

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Annette Vallon
by James Tipton

James Tipton’s bold novel, ANNETTE VALLON, turns one of history’s forgotten footnotes into a full-blown heroine. Annette Vallon is best known for being the mistress of English poet William Wordsworth, but in this engrossing novel, she becomes so much more. Beginning her life as a member of the bourgeoisie, Annette’s life changes as the revolution begins—mostly because she falls in love with William Wordsworth. Brought together by a shared love of poetry and the natural world, Annette becomes his muse and passionate lover. That is, until he’s forced to flee the country, leaving a pregnant Annette behind. Strong-willed, Annette and her daughter, Caroline, soon become wrapped up in the revolution, housing victims of the fighting and even freeing prisoners during the Reign of Terror. Her bravery earns her a status of folk hero (the “Mother of Orleans”) and her numerous adventures propel this novel’s plot until she’s ultimately reunited with Wordsworth, if only briefly. A pulse-pounding fictional account of a little-known historical figure, ANNETTE VALLON is a gripping story that dazzles and entertains right up until the end.

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Annette Vallon
James Tipton

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6 Historical Fiction Books Set During the French Revolution

By Chris Gaudio | October 24, 2023

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Shadowbrook
by Beverly Swerling

Taking place before the French Revolution and set in North America during the French and Indian War, SHADOWBROOK masterfully outlines the dismantling of the French Empire that would ultimately lead to the country’s bloody revolution. Spanning the years 1754–56, Beverly Swerling’s novel captures the terrible period of colonial wars among the British, French, and Native Americans. Quentin Hale, a gentleman turned scout, is fighting to save his family’s plantation, Shadowbrook, while also being pitted against his friend Cormac Shea. Part-Irish, part–Native American, Cormac doesn’t want war, but he also believes that all the whites should be expelled from this land that isn’t rightfully theirs. Amid many deadly battles, these two men navigate the complicated continent as kings and empires dictate their move from thousands of miles away. Featuring famous historical figures, like a young George Washington, in addition to other political and religious personalities, SHADOWBROOK unravels a complex history of conflict in the eighteenth century, doing so with colorful characters and an unforgettable, ambitious story.

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Shadowbrook
Beverly Swerling

From the author of the acclaimed novel City of Dreams, the passionate story of Quentin Hale and Nicole Crane, set against the bloody and turbulent backdrop of the French and Indian War.

1754. In a low-lying glen in Ohio Country, where both the French and English claim dominion, the first musket ball fired signals the start of a savage seven-year conflict destined to dismantle France's overreaching empire and pave the way for the American Revolution. In a world on the brink of astonishing change are Quentin Hale, the fearless gentleman-turned-scout, fighting to preserve his beloved family plantation, Shadowbrook; Cormac Shea, the part-Irish, part-Indian woodsman with a foot in both worlds; and the beautiful Nicole Crane, who, struggling to reconcile her love for Hale and her calling to the convent, becomes a pawn in the British quest for territory. Moving between the longhouses of the Iroquois and Shadowbrook's elegant rooms, the frontier's virgin forests and the cobbled streets of Québec, Swerling weaves a tale of passion and intrigue, faith and devotion, courage and betrayal. Peopled with a cast of unforgettable characters and historical figures, including a young George Washington, this richly textured novel vividly captures the conflict that opened the eighteenth century and ignited our nation's quest for independence. A classic in the making, Shadowbrook is a page-turning tale of ambition, war, and the transforming power of both love and duty.

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6 Historical Fiction Books Set During the French Revolution

By Chris Gaudio | October 24, 2023

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Photo credit: iStock / Brankospejs

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