I will repay

"I Will Repay" by Baroness Emmuska Orczy is a gripping historical fiction set in the volatile late 1700s France, just before the revolution. The story takes place mainly in Paris, showing the intense feelings and rivalries as well as the big differences between the wealthy and the poor. Paul Déroulède, who is rich but not comfortable in social situations, gets pulled into a duel and ends up killing the young Vicomte de Marny. Juliette de Marny, whose life is forever changed by her brother's death, is his opposite. At the beginning, things are tense because of the rules of society and the threat of duels among the elite in France. When a fight breaks out over a woman in a gaming saloon, Déroulède and the Vicomte have a duel. The story quickly changes when the Vicomte is fatally wounded, bringing up themes of honor, payback, and guilt that stay throughout the story. Juliette, promising to avenge her brother, finds herself mixed up in the feelings of revolution and personal grudges, which sets the scene for a dramatic examination of destiny and punishment. The reader is prepared for a complex tale of personal and political schemes, highlighted by events that changed France.