Elizabeth (Alaska)'s Reviews > The Recruit

My reading set in the various periods of the French Revolution came to fruition in this. It is another set in 1793 during the Reign of Terror. The aristocracy, rather than going to the guillotine, emigrated. These emigres had their property confiscated. I understood the references to the Chouans and to the Vendeans. I recognized that priests could be imprisoned just for serving Mass.

All of this just to read of the love of a mother for her son and the risks she was willing to take for him. It is a story told only as Balzac could tell it. Still, it is just a very short story, a very strong 3-stars, but too short to become four.