Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

Book Club Discussion Questions for The Black Tower by Louis Bayard

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reading Guide |  Reviews |  Beyond the Book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

The Black Tower by Louis Bayard

The Black Tower

by Louis Bayard
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Sep 1, 2008, 368 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Oct 2009, 384 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About this Book

Book Club Discussion Questions

Print PDF

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

Introduction

Vidocq. The name strikes terror into the Parisian underworld of 1818. As founder and chief of the newly created plain-clothes force known as the Sûreté, Vidocq has used his mastery of disguise and surveillance to nab some of France's most notorious and elusive criminals. But to meet his greatest challenge yet, he will need the help of Hector Carpentier, a young medical student whose name has turned up on a dead man's body. Hector and Vidocq follow the mystery's trail from a Marais slum to the royal gardens of Saint-Cloud, and as more bodies rise up around them, they find themselves tantalizingly close to unveiling an explosive secret—the whereabouts of Marie Antoinette's son—whose ultimate fate may have been known only to Hector's own father.


Questions for Discussion

  1. In The Black Tower, Louis Bayard depicts a Paris that has gone through many political and social upheavals. How have the attempts to sweep away the past failed? Are countries able to shed their history completely?
  2. The relationship between parent and child is a theme that plays out throughout the book. How are the characters' lives affected by the actions of their parents?
  3. How can the senior Dr. Carpentier reconcile the things he did and saw in the Temple with his medical ethics? How do his notes reflect the change in his feelings? Why do you think he never told his family of his experiences?
  4. How does the relationship between Hector and Vidocq evolve over time? Does it ever approach an equal partnership?
  5. How much of Vidocq's personality is shaped by his past? How much is a self-creation?
  6. Vidocq is considered by many to be the father of modern detection. How are his methods different from today's? How are they the same? In what ways did Vidocq's policing techniques represent a departure from his predecessors?
  7. What is the significance of the Baroness having different-colored eyes? How are her actions shaped by her experience as an emigré?
  8. Hector comments that the Duchesse d'Angoulême left the Temple but the Temple never left her. What does he mean by that? How is the Duchess changed by her contact with Charles?
  9. Even after the French Revolution, Paris was visibly split between the upper and lower classes. How does that division play out in criminal terms? Do the events of The Black Tower predict, in any way, the ultimate downfall of the Bourbon dynasty?


Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Harper Perennial. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Beyond the Book:
  The Vidocq Society

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...
  • Book Jacket
    The Rest of You
    by Maame Blue
    At the start of Maame Blue's The Rest of You, Whitney Appiah, a Ghanaian Londoner, is ringing in her...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.