false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg 101921 11 As 19th-century novelists Alexandre Dumas and Charles Dickens both discovered, the French Revolution makes for great drama. This lesson has not been lost on Hilary Mantel, whose <I>A Place of Greater Safety</I> brings a 20th-century sensibility to the stirring events of 1789. Mantel's approach is nothing if not ambitious: her three main characters, Georges-Jacques Danton, Maximilien Robespierre, and Camille Desmoulins, happen to have been major players in the early days of the revolution--men whose mix of ambition, idealism, and ego helped unleash the Terror and brought them eventually to their own tragic ends. As Mantel points out in her forward, none of these men was famous before the revolution; thus not a great deal is known about their early lives. What would constrain the biographer, however, is an open invitation to the fiction writer to let the imagination run wild; thus Mantel freely extrapolates from what is known of her protagonists' personalities and relationships with each other to construct their pasts. <p> This is a huge, complex novel, but the author has done her homework. Though Danton, Robespierre, and Desmoulins are at the center of her story, they are by no means the only major characters who populate the novel. Mantel uses historical figures as well as fictional ones to provide different points of view on the story. As she moves from one to the next, her narrative voice changes back and forth from first to third person as she sometimes grants us access to her characters' deepest thoughts and feelings, and other times keeps us guessing. <I>A Place of Greater Safety</I> is a happy marriage of literary and historical fiction, and a bona fide page-turner, as well. <I>--Margaret Prior</I> 1168385 1992 A Place of Greater Safety: A Novel total:92|5:42|4:34|3:13|2:3|1:0| 92 391 260 33 101921 0312426399 9780312426392 78 26 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101921.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety_A_Novel 5 4 false Thu May 24 19:42:35 -0700 2007 Wed Nov 14 16:38:55 -0800 2007 more...]]> 1180500 0805052046 9780805052046 4 2 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181686033m/1180500.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1180500.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety 3 1 false Fri Feb 13 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 13 00:26:21 -0800 2009 Fri Feb 13 00:33:30 -0800 2009 more...]]> 1384823 0140171037 9780140171037 5 3 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183155684m/1384823.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1384823.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety 4 1 false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1997 Sat Jan 31 19:36:05 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 20:23:50 -0800 2009 more...]]> 101921 0312426399 9780312426392 78 26 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101921.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety_A_Novel 5 0 false Thu Aug 13 13:40:00 -0700 2009 Thu Aug 13 13:40:00 -0700 2009 more...]]> 101921 0312426399 9780312426392 78 26 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101921.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety_A_Novel 5 0 false Thu Oct 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 13:07:36 -0700 2009 Thu Oct 22 13:10:36 -0700 2009 more...]]> 101921 0312426399 9780312426392 78 26 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101921.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety_A_Novel 4 0 false Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 24 18:08:24 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 01 21:22:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> 101921 0312426399 9780312426392 78 26 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101921.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety_A_Novel 4 1 false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Aug 17 12:32:52 -0700 2008 Sun Mar 29 20:11:35 -0700 2009 Citizens, and the novel City of Darkness, City of Light -- and I'll add this novel to the list. It was enormous, but well-paced and compelling throughout. I really enjoyed the structure, the shifting of ...more...]]> 101921 0312426399 9780312426392 78 26 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101921.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety_A_Novel 4 1 false Tue Mar 10 13:50:12 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 10 13:51:45 -0700 2009 1384823 0140171037 9780140171037 5 3 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183155684m/1384823.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1384823.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety 5 0 false Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 1993 Fri Aug 28 10:48:27 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 28 10:50:36 -0700 2009 The French Revolution as seen through the eyes of the women who were involved.
I read this too long ago to remember much more than the fact it was totally gripping and a very enjoyable read.]]> 101921 0312426399 9780312426392 78 26 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101921.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety_A_Novel 0 0 false Thu Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jun 05 14:01:16 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 25 15:39:32 -0700 2009 more...]]> 101921 0312426399 9780312426392 78 26 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101921.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety_A_Novel 4 0 false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Dec 12 04:54:09 -0800 2009 Sat Dec 12 04:55:11 -0800 2009 ]]> 101921 0312426399 9780312426392 78 26 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101921.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety_A_Novel 5 0 false Mon Feb 16 06:33:54 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 16 06:34:40 -0800 2009 1180500 0805052046 9780805052046 4 2 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181686033m/1180500.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1180500.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety 5 0 false Mon Jun 15 20:02:36 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 15 20:02:36 -0700 2009 101921 0312426399 9780312426392 78 26 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101921.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety_A_Novel 5 0 false Sat Jun 17 00:00:00 -0700 1995 Sat Aug 22 18:31:54 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 22 18:32:22 -0700 2009 101921 0312426399 9780312426392 78 26 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101921.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety_A_Novel 0 0 false Thu Jul 09 13:52:22 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 09 13:52:34 -0700 2009 101921 0312426399 9780312426392 78 26 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101921.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety_A_Novel 5 0 false Sat Jun 12 00:00:00 -0700 1999 Sun Apr 13 17:37:48 -0700 2008 Sun Apr 13 17:46:35 -0700 2008 more...]]> 101921 0312426399 9780312426392 78 26 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101921.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety_A_Novel 5 0 false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 17 13:22:41 -0800 2008 Sun Dec 28 10:00:41 -0800 2008 101921 0312426399 9780312426392 78 26 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101921.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety_A_Novel 3 0 false Sun Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Fri Oct 31 18:34:57 -0700 2008 Fri Oct 31 18:34:57 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1384823 0140171037 9780140171037 5 3 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183155684m/1384823.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1384823.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety 5 0 false Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 1993 Wed Sep 26 15:50:09 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 26 15:59:06 -0700 2007 more...]]> 101921 0312426399 9780312426392 78 26 4.25 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171483488m/101921.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/101921.A_Place_of_Greater_Safety_A_Novel 5 0 false Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Mon Jan 21 13:50:03 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 21 13:52:00 -0800 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=101921