The Beasts of Paris
Stef Penney chose a setting that has not often been mined by authors of historical fiction: the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the Commune rebellion that follows in Paris. For that reason alone, this book interested me.
The cast of characters is intriguing, too. Anne, a worker and former inmate at Paris’ notorious Salpêtrière asylum, loves to spend her free time at a Paris zoo. She is especially drawn to the tigress, Marguerite. Zookeeper Victor also has a special love for Marguerite. Ellis, a surgeon and American Civil War veteran, has come to Paris to write poetry and put the horrors of war surgery behind him. Lawrence works in the photography studio of the Lamy family. Fanny models for the pornographic pictures the Lamys produce as a sideline. These and other colorful characters seek, find, and lose love in the course of the great events of 1870 and 1871. They are challenged to the limits of endurance by the hunger, danger, and moral dilemmas that war and rebellion present. The zoo animals are not the only beasts in this story.
The book’s Paris setting is brought to vivid life, and the multiple characters come together in a plot that is crisp and well-paced. Readers, especially LGBTQ+ readers, may especially enjoy the beautifully rendered gay love story unfolding in a time and place when such love is forbidden and yet very real.
