What a wonderful mish mash of revolution and their tragic characters. with reference to history abounding. There is Whiss Valeur a frightening cromwell, poor old Dunalas and his Queen, embodying the sad fates of stupid people born to be Kings and Queens, doomed for the chop. The dreaded Kokotte, an obscene futuristic version of the guillotine - will we one day with our gizmo adoration devise such a machine?, indeed a worthy consideration. All this and more, wondeful character after character brought to us by Paula Volsky. I found this book in a cheap bin, cheap buy but excellent value for money, to my advantage. Will definitely read this author again.