Author & Historian
J. J. Blanchard was born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1967, but regards France as his second home.
He studied history and politics at Monash and Melbourne Universities and then went on to lecture in modern European history.
Though he has now long left academia, he maintains an abiding interest in and fascination for the history of the French Revolution.
A Society of Friends
Based on a true story, this novel follows the experiences of the Jullien family before and during the early years of the French Revolution—Rosalie Jullien, a sensitive and educated frenchwoman, her husband Marc-Antoine Jullien, bourgeois man of letters, and their precocious son, the teenaged journalist who would become known to history as an acolyte of Maximilien Robespierre. It is also the story of their servant Marion, and her own experience of love and loss. In short, it is an intimate tale of a family swept up in the drama of Revolution, as much as it is an exploration, through them, of the nature of Revolution itself.
Devotees of Rousseau and true children of the Enlightenment, together the Julliens yearn for a better, more humane and just world. Yet the Revolution brings confronting realities, pitting brother against brother, friend against friend. As the stakes, and the tide of political violence in Revolutionary France grows ever higher, where and in whom should the family put their faith? How will they, their cause and their ideals survive all the forces arrayed against them? What will the Revolution mean particularly for Rosalie, witness to an emerging discourse on women’s rights in Paris?
Reviews
"A well-paced and nuanced human story, solidly grounded in historical events... the writing is elegant and really brings out the atmosphere of the time."
"Blanchard’s novel is the work of a fine storyteller who is also an expert historian of the Revolution. It has the ring of truth."
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