The Galley Slave's Ring; Or, The Family of Lebrenn: A Tale of the French Revolution of 1848
Translated by Daniel De Leon
The February Revolution of 1848 thundered through Paris and toppled a king. But for the linen-draper Marik Lebrenn, the real upheaval is personal. Eugène Sue, the scandalous genius behind "The Mysteries of Paris," weaves a tale of ordinary people caught in extraordinary times: a shopkeeper whose respectability masks dangerous secrets, a young assistant from Brittany bewildering in the city's revolutionary ferment, and a mysterious ring that binds three generations to a past France would rather forget. When the enigmatic Dupont arrives at the Lebrenn shop, he brings more than questions about old debts. He brings the truth about the family's hidden connections to France's revolutionary bloodline, a revelation that transforms a quiet household into a target. Set in the days when Paris seethed with possibility and peril, this novel captures the moment when the old world cracked open and everyone had to choose which side they'd stand on. For readers who crave historical fiction that pulses with the present tense of the past, that shows how revolutions break families even as they forge nations.
