The Revolution has cast a countess down to the gutter – and offered an executioner’s apprentice the keys to power.
Author: Milja Kaunisto
Finnish original: Status
Publisher: Gummerus, 2018
Number of pages: 496 pp.
Reading material: Finnish original, English sample
Marianne is a countess and the madame of a brothel, the symbol of the republic and an enemy of the revolution. Isidore is an executioner, a guard and a protégé of Robespierre. Together they have learned the meaning of the most beautiful statement of this age of death: “I am alive.” Only on the executioner’s block does Marianne learn the meaning of the phrase.
When the crazy revolution is turned upside down, Isidore has the opportunity to gain a position of which he has only been able to dream. But he, too, must soon choose his path at the crossroads of past and future. As his map he has a single word: Marianne.
The extraordinary final part of the Purple Guillotine trilogy, Status, takes the reader to fear ridden Paris, where streams of blood indicate the direction to the peak of power. Kaunisto is a master of compelling narrative, but also depicts the most exciting turns of the plot with respect for the historical truth.
Also available:
Luxus (Purple Guillotine #1) 2016
Corpus (Purple Guillotine #2) 2017
About the author:
Milja Kaunisto