Compellingly, with the narrative elegance that has placed her Victorian mystery novels on best-selling fiction lists worldwide, Edgar Award-winning novelist Anne Perry turns her unerring historical eye to Paris 1792. Revolution is yielding to Terror, and the city is hungry—for justice, for vengeance, for bread. So, too, is Celie Deleure, a servant in the household of the celebrated Madame de Stael, when her infant son suffers an inexplicable death.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Departing from her usual Victorian milieu (the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt series and the William Monk series), Edgar-winner Perry has concocted a neat tale of survival and revenge at novella length, set in revolutionary France. It's the summer of 1792, three years after the fall of the Bastille, and the natives of Paris are increasingly discontented with the food shortages, the arbitrary mob rule, the lack of effective leadership by the Commune. On the border, meanwhile, the Prussians threaten invasion. Against this ominous backdrop, Celie, a young widowed servant in the employ of the real-life Madame de Sta‰l, suffers a personal tragedy. Celie's baby son, Jean-Pierre, dies in his crib, unattended by the friend, Amandine, in whose care she entrusted him. Later Celie learns that Amandine's lover, Georges, lured her away for a tryst during the fatal hour. Giving in to her worst feelings, Celie betrays the negligent lovers to the authorities, who are all too quick to arrest anyone on suspicion of treason. But not all is as it seems, and as the Prussian army marches on Paris and Marat sets the Terror in full bloody swing, the nobler side of Celie's nature comes to the fore as she contrives to have a little justice done amid the horrors. While slight in comparison to her novels, this spare, well-crafted novella should please Perry's fans.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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More About the Author
Anne Perry is the bestselling author of two acclaimed series set in Victorian England: the William Monk novels, including Dark Assassin and The Shifting Tide, and the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, including The Cater Street Hangman, Calandar Square, Buckingham Palace Gardens and Long Spoon Lane. She is also the author of the World War I novels No Graves As Yet, Shoulder the Sky, Angels in the Gloom, At Some Disputed Barricade, and We Shall Not Sleep, as well as six holiday novels, most recently A Christmas Grace. Anne Perry lives in Scotland.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Very Nice read!,
By Christine "loves to read" (Setauket, NY, United States) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: A Dish Taken Cold (Hardcover)
Three years after the storming of the Bastille, Celie's baby is found dead in his crib at the home of her friend Amandine. When Celie finds out that Amandine had in fact left the baby so that she may bed with her lover Georges, she plots revenge to repay the couple for their negligence. She sets out to have Georges arrested and guillotined as a traitor. Her plans seem to be going well until they completely backfire on her placing everyone including herself in mortal danger.This is my first experience with Anne Perry, and contrary to some opinions here, I quite enjoyed it. I don't think it is healthy to box a writer into a corner when they produce something different. So what if this is not vintage Perry. Her writing is still flawless. I felt as if I were transported to 18th Century Paris and learned quite a bit about life during this chaotic and terrifying time. She's is obviously a very gifted and talented writer who had something different to share with us this time. I don't think that in and of itself makes her writing less efficient. I definitely feel confident now about buying her other books. Cris
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Delightful Appetizer to a Superb Novel,
By Tiggah "the Anglophile" (Calgary, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Dish Taken Cold (Hardcover)
Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, this 73-page novella marks a departure from the Victorian era one has come to associate with British novelist Anne Perry. The story roughly covers the period from the storming of the Tuileries on 10 August 1792 to the the storming of the prisons (and massacre of those within) on 2 September 1792. (The Tuileries, for those unfamiliar with this period, was where the royal family had hitherto been "kept"--though with comparatively relaxed security to that which was to come.) Being so short, there is of course less in the way of character development and the social and political issues are not fleshed out in nearly as much depth as we would otherwise get in a novel. However, the story itself (which is not a murder mystery, by the way) is an interesting one, of which I'll say no more than that it deals with the issue of revenge. Even though I (unlike Celie, the protagonist) had my suspicions of what was going on right from the beginning, I didn't find it spoiled my enjoyment of the story, as its real importance is in enabling us to witness the development of Celie's character, her guilt, her shame, and subsequently the choices she makes and the actions she takes. Those who have read this little book may be interested to know that the story continues with a full-fledged murder mystery novel entitled The One Thing More (a 2000 UK publication), which by the way is my favourite Anne Perry novel so far (though I confess I've only read a few of her later Pitt novels). Those who've not read A Dish Taken Cold will not miss anything should they choose to jump straight into The One Thing More, for everything that occurs in the novella is provided to the reader by way of background information in the novel. But I did find A Dish Taken Cold served as a nice little appetizer; it introduces us to Celie (and a few other characters), and it helps us to understand her just a little bit better. One final thing, for those interested in background reading of the period leading up to and covering the early years of the French Revolution (ie. the period covered in these two books), I strongly recommend Antonia Fraser's captivating book entitled Marie Antoinette: The Journey. It's not mandatory reading, of course, but I always find historical novels all the more interesting when one has familiarised oneself with the period in question. I find this to be especially true with Anne Perry's books, as her characters (at least in the novels I've read) usually engage in debates and discussions of various contemporary issues.
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
an interesting historical novella,
By tregatt (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
This review is from: A Dish Taken Cold (Hardcover)
Be forewarned: this novella is NOT a mystery; but rather is a short story dealing with the issues of loss and revenge. For fans of Anne Perry who appreciate her explorations of social issues in her Thomas & Charlotte Pitt and William Monk mystery novels, "A Dish Take Cold" will be an enjoyable read. The social issue that Perry goes into in this novella is that of the French Revolution, the stage at which Marat is coming into power, and the blood bath is about to begin. What happens when the revolution you wanted sweeps away not only all that was wrong but also all that was right, the innocent as well as the guilty? We see things through the eyes of Celie, a young widow who works for the celebrated Madame de Stael; and through the eyes of Madame de Stael herself -- the chaos, the uncertainty, the bloodshed, and the betrayals. For Celie herself this period is proving all the more heart wrenching as her little baby boy has just suddenly passed away while in the care of Celie's good friend, Amandine. The loss is almost more than she can bear, and when another servant insinuates that Celie's baby probably died from neglect, the urge to avenge her dead child grows in Celie. How Celie plots her revenge and then tries desperately to undo the harm that she has wrought is what drives this novella. I'm a history buff, and I've always enjoyed Anne Perry's ruminations on various social issues, so that I enjoyed this little novela very much. This is a very stark short story that deals primarily with the events that take place over a few days, so don't expect in depth characterisations and explainations. "A Dish Taken Cold" is mostly about Celie: what she feels and how she acts on her confused feelings. Madame de Stael, while she may be preceived as a more interesting person is only a secondary character who inspires Celie to try and undo her revenge scheme. This is a truly stark but interesting novella, one that most history addicts will enjoy.
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