Ribbons of Scarlet by Kate Quinn is an anthology created by six authors, each contributing a novella that collectively forms a full-length novel focusing on influential women during the French Revolution. The book delves into various perspectives of this historical period, highlighting the experiences and struggles of different women, such as Charlotte Corday, Sophie de Grouchy, and Princess Elizabeth. The writing style is described as immersive, with each author successfully weaving their narratives together to create a cohesive storyline that progresses chronologically through the Revolution.

Characters:

Character portrayals are multifaceted, showcasing strong and complex female figures who navigate the challenges of their time with depth and agency.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style is cohesive despite multiple authors, showcasing distinct voices while maintaining a strong narrative flow.

Plot/Storyline:

The narrative delves into the significant contributions of women during the French Revolution, presenting various viewpoints and highlighting their struggles and triumphs.

Setting:

The backdrop of the French Revolution serves as a rich and dynamic setting, highlighting the turbulence and transformative nature of the time.

Pacing:

The pacing alternates between moments of intense action and deeper reflective passages, maintaining reader engagement while providing emotional layers.

Sympathy is our most natural and moral sense. And its origin is pain. From our first wail of infancy, we’re creatures who suffer. Perhaps women most of all. From cradle to grave, we gather bruises, sc...

Notes:

The book is an anthology made up of six novellas by different authors.

Each novella tells a story from the perspective of influential women during the French Revolution.

The characters include both radical revolutionaries and royalists, showing a diverse range of viewpoints.

One character, Sophie de Grouchy, is depicted as an educated woman who advocated for political and social reforms.

Princess Élisabeth of France offers a royalist perspective, showcasing her loyalty to her brother amid the chaos of revolution.

Louise Reine Audu, a more modern character, represents women's active participation in the Revolution.

The narrative reflects on how women's roles during the Revolution were critical yet often overlooked in history.

The writing style shifts among chapters, which some readers found disorienting yet creatively compelling.

The authors conducted significant historical research for authenticity in their characters and settings.

Manon Roland is notable for being actively involved in writing political speeches and pamphlets.

The book highlights themes of gender equality and women's rights in relation to the Revolution's ideals.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings include themes of violence, political executions, trauma, and discussions of historical oppression.

Has Romance?

The novel contains a medium level of romance woven throughout the different women's stories.

From The Publisher:

"The French Revolution comes alive through the eyes of six diverse and complex women, in the skilled hands of these amazing authors."-Martha Hall Kelly, New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls

A breathtaking, epic novel illuminating the hopes, desires, and destinies of princesses and peasants, harlots and wives, fanatics and philosophers-seven 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.

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