Set in Paris in 1870 during the four-month siege of the city, part of the wider Franco-Prussian war, The Beasts of Paris by Stef Penney tells this 19^th century wartime story through the eyes of three young people. Each is an outsider, each is in the process of finding out who they are. Canadian photographer Lawrence Harper works at the Studio Lamy taking saucy pictures of naked women, in his own time he visits the nearby Menagerie and focusses on wild beasts. He is particularly drawn to the large cats, a lion Tancred and lioness Irma, Nero the panther and particularly Marguerite the Caspian tigress. Anne Petitjean, former inmate at the Salpêtrière asylum, is also drawn to the animal cages, especially Marguerite. The animals are special, indulged, worshipped, but when war comes to Paris even the animals go hungry, even the tiger is in danger. No-one is immune. Ellis Butterfield, an American in Paris and nephew of a US diplomat, is a surgeon with experience of the American Civil War a decade earlier. The last thing Ellis wants to do is operate again, to sever limbs, to see death at every turn.
Each of the three sees and does things they never dreamed they would. There are awful choices, hardships, separations and bereavements awaiting them and they must find the strength and wits to survive. As the city falls apart and the political classes and working-class Commune fall out, scores are settled, new laws introduced. And then the denunciations, arrests and shootings begin.
Penney’s three lead characters are so believable, distinct, each infuriating at times but always drawing our understanding. The supporting cast are convincing too, particularly assistant vet Victor Calmette and studio model Fanny Klein. Before the war, everyone has a job, a role, a place in society. But as the city descends into the chaos of siege, with no food, bombarded by shells, afraid to go out and afraid to stay indoors, everyone becomes equally imprisoned. War is a great leveller and the siege is cruelly intense as people strive to go about their ordinary daily lives as guns fire on the streets they know and love.
The knife edge of daily fear is sharpened by the lack of reliable information. The city is surrounded. There is no news, no communication, no mail service from outside. Scandal sheets spring up, written and printed inside the besieged city. They publish ‘news’ stories which are factually unproven. Rumour and gossip – such as the Amazons of the Seine, said to be a ladies battalion armed with hat pins dipped in prussic acid – not unlike unverified rumour on social media today. Distrust of anyone different, the colour of their skin, their accent, their behaviour dominates daily life and any journey outside the home. Besieged Paris is a microcosm of human’s best, and worst, attributes. A petrie dish for rebellion fuelled by emotion, anger, misinformation and wishful thinking. In the centre of this, Penney has placed a relationship, a romance that begins with friendship.
Not a thriller despite its wartime setting, this is a high-quality character-led drama. The best novel I’ve read so far this year. I loved Under a Pole Star, but this book is way better.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THIS BOOK AT AMAZON

Read my review of UNDER A POLE STAR, also by Stef Penney.

If you like this, try:-
‘The Warlow Experiment’ by Alix Nathan
‘An Officer and a Spy’ by Robert Harris
‘Birdcage Walk’ by Helen Dunmore

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#BookReview THE BEASTS OF PARIS by Stef Penney https://wp.me/p2ZHJe-7g1 via @SandraDanby

COMING SOON… THE NEXT BOOK I REVIEW WILL BE:-