The Journey of Martin Nadaud: A Life and Turbulent Times

"Born into a poor family in the rocky heart of France in the year of Waterloo, tramping hundreds of miles to Paris to find work at the age of fourteen, Martin Nadaud grew up to become a stone mason, a revolutionary and a Member of Parliament. After the failure of the 1848 revolution, he was forced to flee to a long and lonely exile in England, seeking work on the building sites of Victorian London before becoming a schoolmaster in Wimbledon under an assumed name. He made his final triumphant return to his homeland in 1870, as modern France was created in turmoil. Publicly, it was a life finally crowned with success. But on a private level Nadaud suffered griefs and losses that left their mark. With access to family letters and personal papers that have lain unrevealed in France for the last hundred years, Gillian Tindall has constructed a moving and compelling picture of a working man against his colourful times."