The book is set in two time zones: a more recent time when a box is found in a secret hiding place containing a journal written by Carnot, one of the leaders of the 18th century French Revolution and the other in which the journal events take place. The journal covers the eighteen years from the start of the French Revolution through the turmoil of the first few years and the failed invasion of Britain to the disastrous march into Russia and the abdication of the French Emperor, Napoleon, with his attempted return and final exile. The box is guarded by a creature known as a wraith who has her own story to tell. There are chases underground, secret societies and romance rekindled. Here true events are woven together with fiction to form a plausible, entertaining and possibly controversial tale.
