Ninety-Three

Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885)
Translated by Aline Delano (1845 - )

1793. The new revolutionary government of France is laboring mightily to end injustice and bring in an ideal new age of liberty, equality, and brotherhood, beginning by killing those obnoxious persons who don't appreciate their ideals. In Vendée a force of peasants, strongly supported by imperial England, is laboring mightily to overthrow the revolutionary government and restore Christianity, family, honor and decency, beginning by killing those obnoxious persons who fail to appreciate those noble phenomena. The exiled Marquis de Lantenac returns from England to lead the Vendéan revolt, to institute a take-no-prisoners policy, and to win a series of bloody victories.

Lantenac is opposed with some success by his great-nephew the Revolutionary officer Captain Gauvain. Gauvain's superiors in Paris admire his courage and tactical skill, but they disapprove of his belief that the principle of brotherhood requires him to show mercy to his enemies. They send their man Cimourdain, whose unyielding principles they trust, to make sure that Gauvain's reactionary mercies and his family loyalty are not causing him to betray the Republic--and to have Gauvain killed if that proves to be the case. They don't realize that Cimourdain, who was once a priest and Gauvain's tutor, loves Gauvain like a son--loves him, perhaps, as much as he once loved God and as he now loves the Revolution.

Meanwhile, the Breton peasant Michele Flechard, who has just lost her home and her husband in a war which she experiences an incomprehensible nightmare, is simply trying to keep her young children alive and get them to some place that won't collapse in blood and fire. Under the circumstances, this appears about as difficult as bringing about either version of the Just Kingdom.

Note: A listener interested in the story, and not in a long excursus on the architecture and the notable names of the French Revolution, could skip the very long Section 27, The Convention, without becoming confused or losing any of the plot. (Summary by Joanna Michal Hoyt)

Genre(s): Historical Fiction

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Part 1: At Sea Book 1, Ch 1: The Forest Of La Saudraie Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:23:58
Play 02 Part 1 Book 2: The Corvette Claymore Ch 1: England and France United Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:07:10
Play 03 1/2/Ch 2:Night with the Ship and the Passenger Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:03:53
Play 04 1/2/3: Patrician and Plebeian United Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:12:17
Play 05 1/2/4: Tormentum Belli Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:05:43
Play 06 1/2/5: Vis et Vir Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:10:41
Play 07 1/2/6: The Two Ends of the Scale Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:05:56
Play 08 1/2/7: He Who Sets Sail Invests in a Lottery Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:06:42
Play 09 1/2/8: 9:380 Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:08:49
Play 10 1/2/9: Someone Escapes Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:03:16
Play 11 1/2/10: Does He Escape? Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:05:03
Play 12 Pt 1 Book 3: Halmalo Ch 1: Speech Is Word Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:10:21
Play 13 1/3/2: A Peasant's Memory Is Worth As Much As The Captain's Science Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:18:35
Play 14 Pt 1 Bk 4: Tellmarch Ch 1: On The Top Of The Dune Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:05:38
Play 15 1/4/2: Aures Habet Et Non Audiet Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:04:15
Play 16 1/4/3: The Usefulness of Big Letters Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:04:46
Play 17 1/4/4: The Caimand Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:13:03
Play 18 1/4/5: When He Awoke It Was Daylight Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:07:04
Play 19 1/4/6: The Vicissitudes of Civil War Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:08:58
Play 20 1/4/7: No Mercy, No Quarter Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:10:14
Play 21 Part 2: Paris Bk 1: Cimourdain Ch 1: The Streets Of Paris At That Time Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:15:30
Play 22 2/1/2: Cimourdain Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:15:13
Play 23 2/1/3: A Corner Not Dipped Into The Styx Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:05:49
Play 24 Pt 2 Bk 2: The Pot-House On The Rue De Panon Ch 1: Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanthus Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:05:30
Play 25 2/2/2: Magna Testantur Voce Per Umbras Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:33:30
Play 26 2/2/3: A Quivering of the Inmost Fibres Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:18:59
Play 27 Pt 2 Book 3: The Convention Ch 1: The Convention Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:52:33
Play 28 2/3/2 Marat In The Green-Room Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:10:29
Play 29 Part 3: In The Vendée Bk 1: The Vendée Ch 1: The Forests Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:04:52
Play 30 3/1/2 Men Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:03:49
Play 31 3/1/3 Connivance of Men and Forests Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:05:34
Play 32 3/1/4 Their Life Underground Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:03:06
Play 33 3/1/5 Their Life In Warfare Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:10:39
Play 34 3/1/6 The Soul of the Earth Passes Into Man Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:07:00
Play 35 3/1/7 The Vendée has Ruined Brittany Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:03:40
Play 36 Pt 3 Bk 2: The Three Children Ch 1: Plus Quam Civilia Bella Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:12:57
Play 37 3/2/2 Dol Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:13:31
Play 38 3/2/3 Small Armies and Great Battles Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:13:58
Play 39 3/2/4 A Second Time Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:04:41
Play 40 3/2/5 A Drop of Cold Water Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:05:15
Play 41 3/2/6 A Healed Breast, but a Bleeding Heart Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:12:45
Play 42 3/2/7 The Two Poles of Truth Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:13:29
Play 43 3/2/8 Dolorosa Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:04:04
Play 44 3/2/9 A Provincial Bastille Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:17:20
Play 45 3/2/10 The Hostages Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:12:59
Play 46 3/2/11 Terrible as the Antique Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:07:10
Play 47 3/2/12 The Rescue Planned Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:04:10
Play 48 3/2/13 What The Marquis Is Doing Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:04:14
Play 49 3/2/14 What The Imânus Is Doing Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:04:24
Play 50 Pt 3 Bk 3: The Massacre of St. Bartholomew Ch 1: The Massacre of St Bartholemew Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:28:33
Play 51 Pt 3 Book 4: The Mother Ch 1: Death Passes Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:05:04
Play 52 3/4/2: Death Speaks Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:07:12
Play 53 3/4/3: Mutterings Among The Peasants Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:07:29
Play 54 3/4/4: A Mistake Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:04:41
Play 55 3/4/5: Vox In Deserto Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:04:13
Play 56 3/4/6: The Situation Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:05:55
Play 57 3/4/7: Preliminaries Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:06:29
Play 58 3/4/8: The Speech and the Roar Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:07:44
Play 59 3/4/9: Titans Against Giants Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:07:55
Play 60 3/4/10: Radoub Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:12:55
Play 61 3/4/11: The Desperate Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:05:34
Play 62 3/4/12: The Deliverer Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:05:29
Play 63 3/4/13: The Executioner Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:04:15
Play 64 3/4/14: The Imânus Also Escapes Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:04:41
Play 65 3/4/15: Never Put A Watch And A Key In The Same Pocket Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:06:34
Play 66 Part 3, Book 5: In Daemone Deus. Ch 1: Found, But Lost Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:15:15
Play 67 3/5/2: From The Door Of Stone To That Of Iron Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:03:52
Play 68 3/5/3: Where The Sleeping Children Wake Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:09:55
Play 69 Part 3, Book 6: After Victory, Struggle Begins. Ch 1: Lantenac Taken Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:04:34
Play 70 3/6/2 Gauvain Meditating Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:24:42
Play 71 3/6/3 The Commander's Hood Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:04:29
Play 72 Part 3, Book 7: Feudality and Revolution. Ch 1: The Ancestor Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:16:38
Play 73 3/7/2: The Court-Martial Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:06:07
Play 74 3/7/3: The Votes Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:09:36
Play 75 3/7/4: After Cimourdain The Judge, Cimourdain The Master Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:03:05
Play 76 3/7/5: The Dungeon Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:17:06
Play 77 3/7/6: Still The Sun Rises Joanna Michal Hoyt
00:15:32