"A Place of Greater Safety" by Hilary Mantel

My latest book is one I've been reading over the last few months as part of another "slow read" guided by Simon Haisell at Footnotes & Tangents. You may recall that last year, along with Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace," we read the three books in Hilary Mantel's "Cromwell Trilogy" together. 

This summer (early May through mid-September), we tackled the very first novel Mantel wrote (although it was not published until 1992):  "A Place of Greater Safety."  Like the books in the Cromwell Trilogy, it's a long one (the paperback clocks in at almost 900 pages) and -- as with the last volume of the Cromwell Trilogy, "The Mirror and the Light" -- I got behind on the weekly readings in August while fulfilling other book club obligations, and had to do a marathon catch-up session so that I could finish the book on time (more or less...!) along with everyone else...!  (The final chapter summary & discussion post will be published on Monday.) 

Fast forward some 200+ years from Cromwell and across the English Channel to France, and the French Revolution. This is an epic novel, featuring a sprawling cast of characters and shifting points of view among them all. The three main ones: friends/frenemies Georges-Jacques Danton, Maximilien Robespierre and Camille Desmoulins, all members of the Jacobin Club, who live on or near the Rue de Cordeliers in Paris. 

I knew a little about the French Revolution -- the basic facts -- before reading this book, but not a whole lot, and while the names of Danton and Robespierre were familiar to me, Desmoulins was less so -- and I had no idea what specific roles they played in the upheaval. This book tell us. It took a while to get all the main characters straight in my mind, but Simon's huge cast of characters list helped a lot.  

(Another reader, in the comments on one of Simon's weekly summary/context posts, quipped that they saw Camille as Tom Hiddleston/Loki.  Personally, I was picturing Timothee Chalamet -- I think it was the descriptions of his hair! lol -- but I can see that too!  lol )  

We see the events of the revolution through their eyes as they happen -- which means we never really get the full overall picture of what's going on (just as anyone in the middle of history-making events never gets the full picture until later)(if ever). Thank goodness for Simon's weekly summary/context posts, which provided a little more context and clarity -- and the comments of the other readers, who confirmed (much to my relief!), week after week, that I was not alone in my confusion!  lol 

How to rate this one?  I think I can summarize the book and my reaction to it in a comment I made to the group, midway through reading it: "This book is a bit of a mess -- but an interesting mess, nevertheless."  On the plus side, despite the lack of narrative clarity as to what exactly was going on, the writing is great (as one would expect from Hilary Mantel). The characters are vividly drawn, the three main ones in particular. We also get the perspectives of several female characters -- the wives/love interests of the three main protagonists, as well as other female historical figures -- which was really interesting.  

And while anyone familiar with history will know what happens (and while there are plenty of hints along the way), the last several chapters were still a pretty tense (even brutal) read -- with more than a few echoes of (ahem!) current events, when the events set in motion by our three main characters take on a life of their own and spin out of their control... (The line from the Beatles song kept going through my head:  "You say you want a revolution...?"  Followed by the thought: Be careful what you wish for...)  

(I debated whether or not to read up on the Revolution and the main characters before I started reading, or follow along with the recommended podcast episodes. I didn't, and I'm still not sure whether I chose the right path. Oh well. Now I'm wondering if I should do the research, listen to the podcast and re-read the book?? But -- so many books, so little time...) 

Midway through this book, I had settled on a rating of 3 stars on Goodreads. I'm upgrading it slightly to 3.5 on StoryGraph, because of those last few chapters.

Our next "slow read" starts Sept. 29th and runs for five weeks:  "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. Details here.    

This was Book #26 read to date in 2025 (and Book #1 finished in September), bringing me to 58% of  my 2025 Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of 45 books. I am (for the moment, anyway...!) 5 books behind  schedule to meet my goal.  :)  You can find reviews of all my books read to date in 2025 tagged as "2025 books."