Scaramouche

When young lawyer Moreau witnesses the murder of his friend by an arrogant marquis, he vows to avenge him. With revolution in the air and the people demanding their rights, Moreau is determined to bring the marquis to justice. But the marquis has powerful friends, and Moreau soon finds himself on the run. In a series of adventures, he joins a travelling theatre company and takes on the role of the cunning schemer Scaramouche. He clashes with the marquis again in a contest for the heart of a beautiful woman and is once more on the run from the gendarmes. He experiences further adventures, during which he finally uncovers the secret of his own origins. This historical novel, a bestseller in its time, features a powerful story, vivid characters, and the setting of 18th-century aristocracy. Alongside the hero's escapades, we follow the development of the French Revolution as it spirals ever closer towards terror. Moreau is not an unambiguously positive hero; he has his dark sides, which makes him all the more believable. Though an intellectual, he is not afraid of a skirmish; though a caustic wit and a cold cynic, he is also capable of romantic feelings, and even tears. “He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad,” are the famous words that begin this novel, and they are engraved on the author's tombstone in Adelboden, Switzerland.