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A Dish Taken Cold by Anne Perry
Book Description Compellingly, with the narrative elegance that has placed her Victorian mystery novels on best-selling fiction lists worldwide, Edgar Award-winning novelist Anne Perry turns her unerring historical eye to Paris 1792. Revolution is yielding to Terror, and the city is hungry-for justice, for vengeance, for bread. So, too, is Celie Deleure, a servant in the household of the celebrated Madame de Stael, when her infant son suffers an inexplicable death. Reader Reviews 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful: Interesting tale of revenge with several twists, February 4, 2003 Reviewer: A reader from Massachusetts This story is a departure from the usual Anne Perry novels in several ways. It is not set in Victorian England (story is set in revolutionary France, August-September 1792), the pace of the story moves much more quickly, and, given that it is only 73 pages long, there is naturally much less character development and attention to detail than I usually associate with Anne Perry's novels. None of this detracts from the novella in any way because it focuses only upon one event in Celie's life and how she reacts to it, with the beginning of the Reign of Terror in the backdrop. This makes the novella all the more intriguing because it provides a vehicle in which to carry out plans of revenge that were not available earlier. It is also all the more dangerous because once set in motion, there is no way to stop it. Anne Perry manages to convey Celie's deep hurt, sorrow, anger, gullibility, jealousy, thoughts (helped here by a less-than-well-meaning "friend"),plans, & acts for revenge, second thoughts, actions to remedy what she has done before it is too late, redemption, forgiveness, and love for her fellow human beings in what was possibly most terrifying period in French history. It is a story of revenge, but the revenge is carried out by different people for different reasons. Although there is not as much character development of Celie compared with Charlotte Pitt or Hester Latterly, I think readers still learn what kind of a person Celie is by her actions. If you are looking for the standard Anne Perry novel, then you will be disappointed (it is NOT a mystery), but if you are willing to take a chance on a different kind of story, you will not be disappointed. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition
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