6 Historical Fiction Books Set During the French Revolution

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.