I am a bit envious that your historical fandom has politics that feel relevant to (I assume) your own Yeah, I mean, France got rid of her kings spectacularly in 1789, and made it stick despite the bumps in the road of the Restoration and the July Monarchy, so the French definitely have a long and celebrated history of republicanism and revolution. Whereas England/the United Kingdom ... you know, still has her monarchy today :)
I will say that in the context of historical novels, I do appreciate the appealing trope where the protagonists are royalists deeply loyal to their (opposing) kings -- also, I think that in that context most such romantic historical protags tend to be royalists out of a love of a well-meaning sovereign and a loyalty to their country, not because they'd support divine right of kings and indentured servitude and widespread oppression and injustice towards their subjects?
But, yes, it is very easy to love and admire these French brave republicans who were committed to liberty and the empowerment of the people and stayed true to their ideals (when everyone around them were compromising theirs), as well as true to each other ♥
I've read books on the Paris Commune, Hey, this was during the era of Adolphe Thiers -- who came to Paris as a penniless 21 year old, and started off his career as Manuel's protege! So, this is not that much later, and it's definitely intimately connected to this time period and these guys!
Les Mis is public domain, and is available in English here on Project Gutenberg. I might get dinged for heresy as a Bad Les Mis Fan, but you can absolutely skip the chapters about the Parisian sewer system (though as a history buff you might enjoy the chapters about Waterloo!).
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I am a bit envious that your historical fandom has politics that feel relevant to (I assume) your own Yeah, I mean, France got rid of her kings spectacularly in 1789, and made it stick despite the bumps in the road of the Restoration and the July Monarchy, so the French definitely have a long and celebrated history of republicanism and revolution. Whereas England/the United Kingdom ... you know, still has her monarchy today :)
I will say that in the context of historical novels, I do appreciate the appealing trope where the protagonists are royalists deeply loyal to their (opposing) kings -- also, I think that in that context most such romantic historical protags tend to be royalists out of a love of a well-meaning sovereign and a loyalty to their country, not because they'd support divine right of kings and indentured servitude and widespread oppression and injustice towards their subjects?
But, yes, it is very easy to love and admire these French brave republicans who were committed to liberty and the empowerment of the people and stayed true to their ideals (when everyone around them were compromising theirs), as well as true to each other ♥
I've read books on the Paris Commune, Hey, this was during the era of Adolphe Thiers -- who came to Paris as a penniless 21 year old, and started off his career as Manuel's protege! So, this is not that much later, and it's definitely intimately connected to this time period and these guys!
Les Mis is public domain, and is available in English here on Project Gutenberg. I might get dinged for heresy as a Bad Les Mis Fan, but you can absolutely skip the chapters about the Parisian sewer system (though as a history buff you might enjoy the chapters about Waterloo!).