Nemesis and the Swan

Book excerpt: From her prison cell in revolutionary Paris, nineteen-year-old aristocrat Hélène d’Aubign recalls the events that led her to choose between following in her parents’ unforgivable footsteps or abandoning the man she loves. Despite her world of privilege, Hélène is inspired early on by the radical ideas of her progressive governess. Though her family tries to intervene, the seeds of revolution have already been planted in Hélène’s heart, as are the seeds of love from an unlikely friendship with a young jeweler’s apprentice. Hélène’s determination to find true love is as revolutionary as her attempt to unravel the truth behind a concealed murder that tore her family apart. As violence erupts in Paris, Hélène is forced into hiding with her estranged family, where the tangled secrets of their past become entwined with her own. When she finally returns to the blood-stained streets of Paris, she finds everything—and everyone—very much changed. In a city where alliances shift overnight, no one knows whom to trust. Faced with looming war, the mystery of her family’s past, and the man she loves near death, Hélène will soon find out if doing one wrong thing will make everything right, or if it will simply push her closer to the guillotine.