Mysteries of Paris - Volume 5
The most serialized novel of its age, a sprawling portrait of Parisian poverty and vice that made Eugène Sue the most famous writer in France. Rodolphe, heir to a fictional German throne, abandons his kingdom to live among the destitute of Paris. Disguised as a worker, he masters the city's criminal argot, earns the trust of thieves and beggars, and uses his immense physical strength and cunning to rescue the vulnerable from their oppressors. Each installment offered new characters trapped in the city's shadows, their fates interwoven with Rodolphe's secret mission to understand and challenge the brutal economics of suffering. The novel sparked riots when published, with readers fighting to get the latest installment on the streets of Paris. It invented the social thriller and influenced everyone from Dickens to Hugo to modern crime fiction. For readers who want to understand where social fiction came from.
X-Ray
