Jeffrey S. Ravel

This is nonfiction. My bookclub didn't realize what the book was when we chose it. Most didn't finish it. Although I found some of the issues interesting - the issue of identification & the power of gossip and rumors, I had to skim over some of it. For instance, the author spent a lot of time talking about a play about the subject which was too much for me. The book is about an actual event that happened in France in 1697. A married man, part of the nobility in a poor part of France, goes off to war. While he is gone, he marries a commoner. When he returns to his first wife, he finds she knows about his marriage. There are also stories that she is consorting with a prior. He leaves after one night without telling anyone. Rumors start up that the wife and the prior killed him. He is somewhat reluctant to come forward as he is guilty of bigamy and he could be punished for it. Once he comes forward to show he is alive, some believe he is simply an imposter trying to free the wife. The prosecution depends on 2 young illiterate maids kept prisoners and probably convinced by the prosecution to say they saw him dead. The case becomes very famous and it takes approximately 3 years and several investigations to find that he is alive and his wife is freed. The book gets a bit tedious due to all the details used by the author.… (plus d'informations)