A Place of Greater Safety

By Hilary Mantel

Published Jan 2010

At the centre of this bold epic are three men who led the revolt against the tyrannies and injustices of the Ancien Régime: Georges-Jacques Danton, an ugly, ambitious, and charismatic spokesman; Maximilien Robespierre, slight, precise, wishing to do good for others; and their friend, Camille Desmoulins, an inveterate conspirator, pamphleteer, and seducer (obsessed for years by a married woman, he eventually marries – he’s not sure how – her daughter). Three young men of obscure origins from the provinces, all make their way to Paris, where, in 1787, they will be presented with – and will seize – the opportunity to transform their world.