A Place of Greater Safety

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The executioner claims that he has to hire additional help out of his own pocket to deal with numbers, and residents complain about the smell of blood] If you like politics and a long read, this book is for you.

At twelve he was still such a small boy, so softly spoken and unobtrusive; she was afraid he would be overlooked altogether once he left his grandfather's house.

There are many quotable moments in such a long book but I will leave it for another to find a few and for another reader to find their own favorite. In a fascinating passage, Mantel’s omniscient narrator lists the ways in which people can be complicit in a crime, including standing by and doing nothing when a crime is committed, so we can tell that she believes Robespierre is complicit, although not directly involved.

Mantel uses the leaders of the Revolution – Danton, Robespierre and Camille Desmouslins – as the pivotal characters, which, of course, they were, but also manages to use their characters and positions to give information about lesser known characters, such as Lucille Desmoulins, without whom the revolution may not have run in the same way.but however much he is charming, adventurous and a scoundrel, it is Robespierre with his principles turns out to be most ruthless. They said, we have no quarrel with the de Robespierres, they are decent people, but him, he is not a decent person. Yes this is historical fiction, but the history books tell us much the same: the Revolution had become the master over the people involved.