Frederick Davies

It is April 1793 and the final power struggle of the French Revolution is taking hold: the aristocrats are dead and the poor are fighting for bread in the streets. In a Paris swept by fear and hunger lives Gamelin, a revolutionary young artist appointed magistrate, and given the power of life and death over the citizens of France. But his intense idealism and unbridled single-mindedness drive him inexorably towards catastrophe. Published in 1912, The Gods Will Have Blood is a breathtaking story of the dangers of fanaticism, while its depiction of the violence and devastation of the Reign of Terror is strangely prophetic of the sweeping political changes in Russia and across Europe.

Alphonse Daudet's novels established him as the most successful writer in France by the end of the XIX century. Throughout his working life in Paris Daudet never lost his almost umbilical attachment to Provence. Here, he presents tales of that region that are characterised by tenderness and delicacy, as well as wistfulness and wry humour.