Red Caps And Lillies

About Red Caps And Lillies Android App

Red caps and Lillies is a book about a family on their journey out of Paris during the revolution, written by Katharine Adams in 1924. This book is more of a tween novel, something that might today be a teens novel.

The setting for Red Caps and Lillies is the French Revolution. Marie Josephine, a 13-year-old girl, is the protagonist. The book also features Flambeau, Marie Josephine's greyhound, faithful dog.

The Synopsis:

Marie Josephine is from an aristocratic family, and as the horrors of the Revolution grow closer, she is sent to the family's country estate, with her sisters and cousins, a governess, and a maid. Marie Josephine loves her country home, Les Vignes, and she enjoys spending time with a boy near her age, Jean, and a shepherd named Dian. Marie Josephine's mother and brother remain in Paris, where eventually the Revolution catches up to them. Marie Josephine decides to travel back to Paris disguised as a peasant and rescue her remaining family. On which, a 13-year-old girl can't rescue her family by herself, and I was pleased that Adams could see how preposterous it would be to put Marie Josephine in the role of sole heroine. Instead, she is just someone who helps in a small way. Dian and a wonderful Englishman named Humphrey Trails are the two men who engineer an escape for the entire family, including those at Les Vignes, as the Revolution spills out of the cities and into the countryside.

Adams hints at the danger, but she doesn't give us any graphic scenes of street violence or the guillotine. Although this story centres on the rescue of aristocrats, they are not presented as completely good characters, they have contributed to the misery that has led to the Revolution. It's the simple men, a shepherd and a farmer, who are the real heroes of Red Caps and Lillies. They don't owe the family anything, they help because they know it is the right thing to do, even at the risk of their own lives. That's what makes this novel a pleasure to read.

Hope everyone enjoy the story and happy reading!