The Napoleonic Quarterly8 Tammi 2025

Hilary Mantel's A Place Of Greater Safety and the French Revolution (w/William Doyle)

(**spoiler alert below**)

Hilary Mantel's novel A Place Of Greater Safety is, according to Oxford History of the French Revolution author William Doyle, one of the two greatest books about those turbulent years in Paris and France. Its exploration of the fascinating relationships between three of the revolution's most important figures - Georges-Jacques Danton, Camille Desmoulins and Maximilien Robespierre - reveals so much about the importance of personality to politics during periods of crisis. Prof Doyle discusses what motivates these characters and indeed what drove the revolution itself forwards through all its tempestuous phases.

Spoiler alert: You don't need to have read A Place Of Greater Safety to enjoy listening to this episode, because the novel is really a starting point for a discussion about its three protagonists rather than being the primary subject of this conversation. This episode anyhow reveals very little about the plot given it is a largely historical, chronological-based treatment. However, there is some discussion about the timing of the ending of the novel which might be viewed by some as a mild spoiler of sorts. To be honest it wouldn't have put me off listening to this before finishing the book, but others might feel differently - you have been warned!

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