Summary of The Gods Will Have Blood
In Paris in 1793–94, during the Reign of Terror, the young painter Évariste Gamelin becomes a juror on the Revolutionary Tribunal. Convinced that he is defending the French Republic, he grows ruthless towards those he sees as its enemies and ever more willing to condemn them to death. Yet he also has a life outside the tribunal, including a love affair with Élodie Blaise, the daughter of a print seller. As the French Revolution turns against its own supporters, Gamelin faces the violence he has helped to unleash.
Reasons to read The Gods Will Have Blood
The Gods Will Have Blood – also published in English as The Gods Are Athirst – is a compelling historical novel set during the French Revolution. It shows how political idealism can degenerate into intolerance, fanaticism and violence. Anatole France was a celebrated French novelist, poet and journalist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1921. Other notable novels by France include Penguin Island and The Revolt of the Angels.
Setting: Paris (France)
Novel set in Paris: The Revolutionary Tribunal sat in the Palais de la Cité, above the Conciergerie, on the Île de la Cité.
Original title: Villa des Roses
Year of publication: 1913
Nr of pages: 144
