In the Shadow of the Fire
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- Pedido anticipado
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- Lanzamiento previsto: 13 de abr. de 2021
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- USD 12.99
-
- Pedido anticipado
-
- Lanzamiento previsto: 13 de abr. de 2021
-
- USD 12.99
Descripción de editorial
Winner of the French Voices Prize, In the Shadow of the Fire traces the Paris Communards’ tragic odyssey, while following a breathless criminal investigation.
In 1871, the Paris Commune’s “bloody week” sees the savage climax of the clashes between the Communards and the French Armed Forces loyal to Versailles. Amid the shrapnel and the chaos, while the entire west side of Paris is a field of ruins, a photographer fascinated by the suffering of young women takes “suggestive” photos to sell to a particular clientele.
Then young women begin disappearing, and when Caroline, a seamstress who volunteers at a first aid station, is counted among the missing, her fiancé Nicolas, a member of the Commune’s National Guard, and Communal security officer Antoine set off independently in search of her. Their race against the clock to find her takes them through the shell-shocked streets of Paris, and introduces them to a cast of fascinating characters.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Le Corre (After the War) brilliantly integrates a mystery plotline into a vivid evocation of a lesser-known period in French history in this enthralling novel, which won the French Voices Prize. For a few months in 1871, Paris was ruled by the Paris Commune, a radical government that controlled the city, until the so-called bloody week in late May, when the French army retook it. The novel opens from the vantage point of three Commune soldiers, led by Sgt. Nicolas Bellec, several days before the start of that combat. As Bellec and his comrades prepare for the ground assault they know is coming, he faces another challenge. A cab driver, "covered in hair, like an animal," has been kidnapping young women. Bellec's fianc e, Caroline, becomes one of the unknown abductor's victims, and the sergeant searches desperately for her, aided by Antoine Roques, who was with the S ret before joining the Commune's efforts. That search continues through the end of the Commune's reign, giving Le Corre an opportunity to display his gifts at writing tense scenes, with the outcome of both the bloody week and the quest for Caroline unknown. Fans of Armand Cabasson won't want to miss this one.