Hutchinsons sent me a proof copy of Marc Mulholland’s The Murderer of Warren Street, coming out in May, for a ‘puff’ on the dust cover. It’s about the life and grisly death of one of the French proscrits, or exiles, whom I came across when I was researching my The Refugee Question in Mid-Victorian Politics. It’s outstandingly good, so I sent them the following:
This is far more than a biography of Emmanuel Barthélemy, the mid-19th century French revolutionary, exile, atheist, duellist and murderer, who ended his career in effigy in Madame Tussaud’s Chamber of Horrors, after his public execution in London in 1855. (‘Now I shall know if I’m right’, were his last words as the noose was put around his neck.) His true story is worthy of a sensational novel, and is recounted almost novelistically, but also sympathetically – despite appearances, he was a man of honour – in this superbly-researched book. In addition, The Murderer of Warren Street serves as a brilliant introduction to Barthélemy’s revolutionary times in France and in Britain; featuring some eminent bit-players – Marx and Engels among them – and steeped in the very different cultural milieus of those two nations. It also carries some resonances for our own terrorised age.
I’m hoping I get it for review. If so, you’ll be able to read more about Barthélemy there. – ‘Now I shall know if I’m right’. I’ve always thought that was pretty cool.
Porter’s Pensées 
Thanks very much indeed for your kind remarks, Bernard. I’m especially pleased as ‘Refugees’/’Absent-Minded Imperialists’/’Britannia’ Burden’ are among my very favourite books!
What a shame the Guardian passed the review over to Prof Kathryn Hughes.
On Barthelemy’s last words, it was actually recorded as ‘Now I shall know the secret,’ which I think is even better. He must have spent some time thinking it up.
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If his last words concerned his belief in the after-life, then, ‘Now I shall know if I’m right’ is correct, because if was wrong then he would never know it.
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The other way round, surely. If he was right, and there is no after-life, and therefore no ‘him’, he wouldn’t know it. If he was wrong, and he found himself in the afterlife, he’d soon learn it.
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He wouldn’t, though, if he was. “Now I shall know if I’m wrong” would have been more accurate, but less catchy.
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Yes, that occurred to me too!
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