In the Name of Liberty: A Story of the Terror

A spirited young flower-seller becomes entwined with a zealous comrade as street crowds, clubs, and mobs drive political action in revolutionary Paris. They take part in and witness dramatic episodes — the assault on royal authority, prison massacres, and the machinery of public justice — while local rivalries set patriots, moderates, and opportunists at odds. Personal ties of love, jealousy, maternal devotion, and sacrifice complicate loyalties and spur arrests, plots, and assassinations. A subsequent year of famine heightens suffering and intrigue, and the narrative follows how fervent idealism gives way to paranoia and brutality before the Terror finally collapses.