In 1789. the French mob stormed the Bastille, and the rest, as they say, is history. Or fiction. In honor of the day, here are a few suggestions:

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. After my recent very long post on Mr. Dickens, I had to put this one at the top of the list. “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times . . .”

Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini. I read this book last year. “Sabatini tells a good story set during the French Revolution; it reminds me of Star Wars, the ‘Luke, I am your father’ motif. Why are young adventurers in swashbucklers always looking for their missing fathers?”

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy. “They seek him here. They seek him there. Those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven? Or is he in hell? That demmed elusive Pimpernel.”

I haven’t read either of these books, but they sound as if they would be of interest on this French-y sort of day:

The Knight of Maison-Rouge: A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Alexandre Dumas. A citizen of the Republic rescues a damsel in distress and becomes involved in a plot to rescue the imprisoned queen.

A Far Better Rest by Susanne Alleyn. A sequel to A Tale of Two Cities.