"Set in seventeenth-century France--a country in the thrall of dark magic, its social fabric weakened by years of plague--Chris Womersley's City of Crows is a richly imagined and engrossing tour de force. Inspired by real-life events, it tells the story of Charlotte Picot, a young woman from the country forced to venture to the fearsome city of Paris in search of her only-remaining son, Nicolas. Fate (or coincidence) places the quick-witted charlatan Adam Lesage in her path. Lesage is newly released from the prison galleys and on the hunt for treasure, but, believing him to be a spirit she has summoned from the underworld, Charlotte enlists his help in finding her child. Charlotte and Lesage--comically ill-matched but nevertheless essential to one another--journey to Paris, then known as the City of Crows: Charlotte in search of Nicolas, and Lesage seeking a fresh start. Dazzlingly told, with humor and flair, City of Crows is a novel for readers who like their fiction atmospheric, adventurous, spine-tingling, and beautifully written. Pre-revolutionary France, with all its ribaldry, superstition, and intrigue is mesmerizing, and Charlotte Picot's story--the story of a mother in search of her lost son--holds universal appeal." --
City of Crows is a wildly atmospheric novel of 17th century France. After the plague kills most of her family, Charlotte Picot makes her way to Paris in search of her kidnapped son, becoming what seems to be a witch along the way - or is she? Like a love child of Les Miserables and Brotherhood of the Wolf, City of Crows is a great read. Pretty grim reading in places.
