I too read "A place of greater safety" on my kindle while in Europe. I think it is better than the the novels Mantel is now famous for. I had little knowledge of the French revolution and I was entranced, especially in how all the good intentions finally brought about the terror, and poor Desmoulins not only appalled by his own imminent death under the blade but also with the realisation that they were going to kill his wife as well.

This is a first unpublished novel by Mantel, five years in the writing, and left on the shelf for want of a publisher and now only being brought to the world on the back of her novels on Thomas Cromwell. This book is a must read!

Peter Sellick