Historical Fiction Daudet, Alphonse: Roger Helmont, The diary of a recluse, V1.1 Aug 2014

[BobC]

Robert Helmont, The Diary of a Recluse, 1870-1871 (1892) is a novella by French author Alphonse Daudet. Originally published in French in 1874 this is a translation by Laura Ensor. It is partly based on Daudet's actual experiences during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, as described in the Preface.

Robert Helmont breaks his leg on the day of the start of the war. Unable to flee to Paris ahead of the advancing "Saxons", he decides to hide in an hermitage deep in the Sénart woods. For the next 5 months he has a series of adventures. Historically accurate details about costume, architecture, food and mannerisms provide an excellent painting of the time. Hot air balloons, messenger pigeons and late night cut-throat murders lend the novel an air of high adventure, mixed with a love of nature and solitude.

This copy has its origins in the version in The Internet Archive but with much editing to clean up the OCR and to re-insert illustration captions. The book is rich in illustrations and it has been necessary to re-position some slightly to accord with the flow of the text.
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Updated 14 Aug 2014 - minor spelling corrections

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