At the end of the Bloody Week, his cellmates were shot, if they had not already died from their wounds or from their time in prison. For a few months he, along with others, shared the fate of Théophile Ferré, the man who alongside the anarchist Pindy had ordered the destruction of all Paris’s civil records. Upon learning this, Auguste had burst into sobs, for reasons that were not truly understood by the person communicating the news. Every man in his cell was condemned to death and executed, one after the other, through to the month of December. Auguste, however, was sentenced to deportation to New Caledonia, because his role in the Commune was found to be of minor importance, but at the trial rumour already had it that he would be offloaded somewhere en route, and at some other French port moreover. It wasn’t yet known precisely where . . . Senegal, Madagascar, Mauritius . . . it would depend on the route taken, but regardless the matter had in principle been agreed.

A place where conditions were mild and where he would be safe.

In that regard, Aunt Clothilde had been most insistent with her old friend.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

The idea for my book followed my reading of Thomas Piketty’s treatise Le capital au XXIe siècle (Capital in the Twenty-First Century), a work that I found rigorous and unbiased, and which helped me understand the origins of this vague intuition I had that our twenty-first-century society bore an increasing resemblance to that of the nineteenth century.

The historical events my characters describe and comment on stem from a mixture of my readings, articles that appeared in newspapers from the time, from my imagination, but most of all from my ignorance.

A special mention to Paul Lidsky’s extraordinary work Les écrivains contre la Commune. Borrow it, read it – it is fabulous! And also, huge thanks to Les Amis de la Commune de Paris, and in particular to John Sutton, who guided my readings.

As for what truly is the bible on the subject of military substitution, see: Bernard Schnapper’s Le remplacement militaire en France: Quelques aspects politiques, économiques et sociaux du recrutement au XIXe siècle. See also the newspaper L’Assurance, writing on the reform of military substitution from 1868 to the declaration of war against Prussia.

As for Philippe de Rigny’s hijinks and meroxage attempts on the high seas, I am entirely indebted to the work of Bernard Dussol and Charlotte Nithart – Le Cargo de la honte; l’effroyable odyssée du Probo Koala, from which it is evident that truth is stranger than fiction and that writers play it safe when it comes to portraying rapacity. Read it and be outraged.

Special thanks to the Association Robin des Bois for their work tracing the floating hulks that continue to transport pollutants on the high seas.