Hermes in Paris

By: Peter Vansittart

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Hardcover | 1 September 2000

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Hermes, the messenger of Zeus, likes to return to Earth now and again. He chooses to do so in Paris at the time of Napoleon III, a time of great frivolity and instability. Here he decides to play the most explosive practical joke in the world's history.

Hermes—God, trickster and mischief-maker—is also the protector of shepherds, travelers' guide, conductor of souls to the underworld, messenger of Zeus, bringer of good luck, and patron of orators, writers, athletes, merchants, and thieves. To indulge his curiosity he visits Earth from time to time looking for opportunities to play practical jokes and stir up the population. He chooses to holiday in Paris at the time of the brilliant but unstable court of Napoleon III—another opportunist, conspiratorial and outwardly amiable—and the beautiful, nervy Empress Eugenie. Hermes finds much to provoke his laughter—and such laughter is dangerous. Under his influence France enjoys a succession of illusions involving the highest in the land, the comfortable middle classes, and the journalists, poets, and intellectuals of Left Bank cafes, and everything flows inexorably towards the most explosive joke that Hermes can devise.

Industry Reviews

It is Paris 1870. Hermes, god of commerce, god of profit, god of chance, messenger of Zeus, is drawn to the city through his love of mischief, of ironic tragedy and of disaster on a grand scale. He senses that in the city at this time, conditions are right, ripe for such a disaster. So it is that before his mocking eyes and beneath his malign touch, the grandeur that is the Second Empire begins to unravel. Vansittart's novel vividly brings to life the last months of the 'reign' of Napoleon the Third and his Empress, Eugenie, in their glittering, decadent, jewel of a city. From the staterooms of the Emperor to the clubs and cafes of the radicals who plot his downfall daily, the author has carefully re-created a period with all its pomp, its power struggles and its hidden agendas. This was a time when the debauchery and deceit of the ruling classes had reached its height. When war was still hostage to diplomatic pride and the slightest insult to honour was enough to plunge nations willingly into war. Full of psychological insight and realistic characterizations, full of the sights, sounds, colours, smells and emotions of that time. Vansittart's novel captures the essence of an era. (Kirkus UK)

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