A Man in Uniform

October 25, 2010
The Dreyfus affair gets a fictional reassessment through a small cast of bourgeois Parisians in a wheezy evocation of belle epoque social conventions. Agatha Christie–style plotting comes quickly to the fore: a mysterious, alluring female client entreats solidly middle-class attorney François Dubon to pursue an appeal for Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, who was sent to the Devil's Island penal colony after a questionable 1894 treason trial. Dubon is intrigued, to the point of neglecting his marriage, his mistress, and his clients, and impersonating a military intelligence clerk to evaluate the government's case against the Jewish artilleryman convicted of passing secrets to the Germans. The appeal becomes consuming, in a mannered fashion, as Dubon engages with pseudonymous journalists and an incongruous English private detective, and tracks down justice for his client at great cost to his settled routines and relationships. But while the salons and afternoon assignations are faithfully depicted, the plot twists are laboriously telegraphed, and the overall micro focus fails to convey the larger sense of such a pivotal moment in French history.

December 1, 2010

In late 19th-century France, lawyer Francois Dubon has left behind his youthful radical leanings for a comfortable, well-ordered, if somewhat banal life. Through his wife's family, he has gained the sort of clientele that allows him to keep his family and his mistress in comfort. Then one day a mysterious widow enters his office and turns his ordered world upside down with her conviction that Alfred Dreyfus, an army captain who was recently convicted of treason, is innocent. Drawn by her magnetic appeal, Dubon begins to live a double life as he strives to find the information that will exonerate the captain. This page-turning historical novel by the author of Madame Proust and the Kosher Kitchen strongly evokes the atmosphere of the time and place. Though some of Dubon's antics strain credulity a bit, overall this is an intriguing and enjoyable reimagining of a major event in French history. VERDICT Fans of historical fiction, especially of the 1800s and later, will find this a worthwhile read.--Pam O'Sullivan, SUNY at Brockport Lib.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2010
Though Taylor (Madame Proust and the Kosher Kitchen, 2004) uses the Dreyfus affair, which rocked France at the end of the nineteenth century, as her foundation, Dreyfus himself barely appears in this novel. Instead, the central character is Parisian lawyer Francois Dubon, whose carefully regulated life (rendezvous with mistress each weekday at five, home for dinner with wife at seven) gets a bit more exciting when he receives a visit from an attractive, mysterious widow. She asks him to look for proof that Dreyfus is innocent of treason, and at her instigation Dubon dons a military uniform and insinuates himself into the armys Statistical (i.e., counterespionage) Section as a file clerk. As he gets closer to the truth, his life is upended, and high-level cover-ups are revealed. A compelling novel could be written about laffaire Dreyfus, but this isnt it. Instead, its a reasonably entertaining period piece with deftly rendered details (how would one photograph secret documents in 1896?) and a dash of mystery to help make up for several improbable plot twists.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)