Ninety-Three

Victor Hugo · 1802–1885 · France

Originally Quatrevingt-treize (French)

Why it matters

A royalist marquis, the republican general who once raised him, and a fanatical priest converge on the same Vendée farmhouse during the Revolution's civil war: Hugo's final novel weighs mercy against ideology and finds neither side innocent.

At a glance

Dense historical and political argument frames a tightly plotted siege story.