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Ribbons of Scarlet

A Novel of the French Revolution's Women

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About this listen

Six bestselling and award-winning authors bring to life a breathtaking epic novel illuminating the hopes, desires, and destinies of princesses and peasants, harlots and wives, fanatics and philosophers—six unforgettable women whose paths cross during one of the most tumultuous and transformative events in history: the French Revolution.

Ribbons of Scarlet is a timely story of the power of women to start a revolution—and change the world.

In late eighteenth-century France, women do not have a place in politics. But as the tide of revolution rises, women from gilded salons to the streets of Paris decide otherwise—upending a world order that has long oppressed them.

Blue-blooded Sophie de Grouchy believes in democracy, education, and equal rights for women, and marries the only man in Paris who agrees. Emboldened to fight the injustices of King Louis XVI, Sophie aims to prove that an educated populace can govern itself--but one of her students, fruit-seller Louise Audu, is hungrier for bread and vengeance than learning. When the Bastille falls and Louise leads a women’s march to Versailles, the monarchy is forced to bend, but not without a fight. The king’s pious sister Princess Elisabeth takes a stand to defend her brother, spirit her family to safety, and restore the old order, even at the risk of her head.

But when fanatics use the newspapers to twist the revolution’s ideals into a new tyranny, even the women who toppled the monarchy are threatened by the guillotine. Putting her faith in the pen, brilliant political wife Manon Roland tries to write a way out of France’s blood-soaked Reign of Terror while pike-bearing Pauline Leon and steely Charlotte Corday embrace violence as the only way to save the nation. With justice corrupted by revenge, all the women must make impossible choices to survive--unless unlikely heroine and courtesan’s daughter Emilie de Sainte-Amaranthe can sway the man who controls France’s fate: the fearsome Robespierre.

Anthologies & Short Stories Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Women's Fiction Revenge Royalty Destiny French Revolution Marriage French Historical Fiction
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I didn’t know about the contributions of the amazing women during the French Revolution and Kate Quinn brings these characters to life in a profound way.
Nicole

Kate Quinn brings up back into one of the most fascinating periods of history

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I really enjoyed listening to this book! Hearing the story from so many different perspectives was a really great way to show the tragedy of it all.

Multiple perspectives were great

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Great story telling and loved the varied, intertwined female perspectives but the overly dramatic narrators became monotonous in a shrill way.

Fresh perspectives and great stories

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I normally enjoy this author, maybe I did not focus hard enough but I could not figure out who was who and the storyline was rather diluted by so many moving piece.

Confusing and choppy

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