Passage
The Cudgel of War
War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
When war ignores every rule, can civilized strategy survive a people's fury?
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Object
Doctor Manette’s Prison Manuscript
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
A prisoner's secret account, buried in the Bastille, returns to condemn the man he loves.
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Passage
The Guard Turned And Fled
Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
In the battle's decisive instant, the invincible finally break, and everything changes.
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Place
Tuileries
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
Inside the royal palace, Edmond's ruin becomes useful to men guarding their own power.
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Passage
His Reputation Burned
The Red and the Black, Stendhal
A hidden devotion threatens Julien's future just when reputation is all he owns.
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Character
Colonel Georges Pontmercy
Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
A father known mostly through absence gives Marius a politics of memory.
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Passage
A Clever Nation Conquers
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
A servant coolly argues Russia should have welcomed conquest to escape its own stupidity.
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Passage
Spellbound by the Battlefield
War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
Pierre is transfixed as beauty and slaughter merge into one unbearable revelation.
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Object
Exchanged Clothing
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
Two men swap coats, and one of them walks to the guillotine in the other's name.
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Passage
All the Horses Were Gone
Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
With escape gone, Jos's panic deepens into a night of mounting terror.
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Character
Napoleon Bonaparte
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
The absent emperor whose name turns Edmond’s errand into political danger.
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Passage
Julien At La Malmaison
The Red and the Black, Stendhal
Julien's worship of Napoleon turns Paris itself into a test of faith.
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Place
Waterloo
Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
One night among the dead, a thief's robbery gets remembered as a rescue.
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Passage
Pierre Imagines His Sacrifice
War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
As Moscow falls, Pierre's grand mission curdles into a feverish fantasy of martyrdom.
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Object
Gabelle’s Letter
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
One prison plea drags Darnay back to the name he thought he had buried.
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Passage
John Sedley Ruined
Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
As Europe panics over Napoleon, one family's security collapses into public disgrace.
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Object
Anonymous Denunciation
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
A few written lines turn private jealousy into a man's arrest and ruin.
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Object
Bulletins of the Grand Army
The Red and the Black, Stendhal
Old accounts of Napoleon's battles feed a poor boy's dream of glory.
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Passage
The Colonel’s Last Charge
Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
A dead father's command binds Marius to honor a stranger he may despise.
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Passage
Pierre Among His Rescuers
War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
After terror and captivity, Pierre can barely believe he is safe again.
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Object
The Grindstone
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
A crowd grinds an edge onto its weapons while the prisons run with blood.
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Passage
Napoleon and Poor Little Emmy
Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
As empires gamble, can Amelia's fragile happiness survive history's indifferent violence?
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Place
Elba / Porto-Ferrajo
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
A sailor keeps a promise at Elba, and it becomes the charge that destroys him.
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Object
Memorial of Saint Helena
The Red and the Black, Stendhal
The book that teaches a poor boy to want everything he cannot have.
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Passage
The Sky's Indifference
Les Misérables, Victor Hugo
Under a peaceful sky, war's indifference makes human suffering feel terrifyingly small.
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Passage
Natasha Among the Packing
War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
As Moscow empties in panic, Natásha is caught between flight and memory.
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Object
Guillotine
A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens
A killing machine that turns a promise of justice into daily slaughter.
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Passage
No Angel
Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray
Rebecca shocks polite society by admitting revenge feels natural, not sinful.
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Character
Duc de Blacas
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas
A courtier in the anxious machinery around Napoleon’s return.
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Object
Napoleon Portrait
The Red and the Black, Stendhal
The hero he worships is the one thing he can never be caught admiring.
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