In "Tallien, " a novel that shuttles gracefully between past and present, a young man visits his dying father -- formerly a Depression-era union organizer and activist -- after a 30-year estrangement. At his bedside, the son relates the tale of Jean Lambert Tallien, a key figure in the French Revolution, who is torn between his egalitarian ideals and his love for an aristocratic woman. In skillful prose, acclaimed author Frederic Tuten uses the historical and contemporary narratives to explore the tensions between passions of the heart and of the mind.
