A powerful story of revolution, love and intense rivalry set in 1870 during the four-month siege of Paris. 1870. All over Paris the lights are going out. The Prussians are encircling the city and Europe’s capital of decadent pleasure and luxury is becoming a prison, its citizens caught between defiance and despair. Desperate times lie ahead as the worst winter for decades sets in and starvation looms. One man seems to shine like a beacon in the shadows. Jean-Jacques Allix promises to lead all those who follow him, to save the city itself. Painter Hannah Pardy, his young English lover, combines her two passions – love for Paris and devotion to its saviour – in her work, as she attempts to reflect in her brushstrokes, her commitment to the capital and the man battling to save it. But as the darkness and panic spreads it is harder and harder to see things as they really are, and Hannah struggles to separate love from self-interest and revolutionaries from traitors. Faced with impossible decisions, Hannah must confront the devastating reality of her beloved Paris to establish what truly matters to her – and what she will do to protect it • Matthew Plampin’s debut novel, The Street Philosopher, was selected for 2009’s Waterstone’s New Voices promotion. • His second novel, The Devil’s Acre , was selected for Channel 4’s TV Book Club 2010.