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The Belovéd Vagabond

William John Locke

Book Overview: 

The vagabond, Paragot, a truly eccentric bohemian and a wandering scholar with a mysterious past, adopts a London street urchin (whom he calls Asticot) by purchasing him from his mother for half a crown. Paragot leads Asticot on various adventures through 19th century Europe, eventually arriving in Paris. Here Paragot’s dark romantic past begins to catch up with him.

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Book Excerpt: 
. . .If he chose he could rip out the hearts[65] of a dead Municipal Council with a violin, and could set a hospital for paralytics a-dancing. He would have fiddled the children of Hamelin away from the Pied Piper. Didn't Blanquette believe him?

"But yes, Monsieur," she said fervently.

"Ask Asticot."

My faith in him was absolute. To my mind he had even understated his abilities. The experience of the disillusioning years has since caused me to modify my opinions; but Paragot's boastfulness has not lessened him in my eyes. And this leads to a curious reflection. When a Gascon boasts, you love him for it; when a Prussian does it, your toes tingle to kick him to Berlin. His very whimsical braggadocio made Paragot adorable, and I am at a loss to think what he would have been without it.

"Of course," said he, "if you are proud, if you don't want to be seen in the company of a scarecrow like me, there is nothing more to be said."

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Community Reviews

I would not say that this is ‘amazing’. But I’d give it 5 stars because I found it most deeply satisfying.

What was satisfying about it?

I found it sentimental but without sentimentality: sentimental in the sense of that which stirs the gentler feelings, but without the mawkishness of the Sentimental

3.75 stars. This is a less well-known historical novel by British author William John Locke, with pretty good writing and some unexpectedly insightful twists and turns in the main character's road toward the end that bumped my rating up from 3 stars. It's rather long-winded at times, but that kind o

4.5 Stars

What happens when a gentleman of learning, passion, and artistic temperament gets his heart broken? Why, he smashes every remnant of his past life into little tiny fragments, sweeps them under the rug of oblivion and reimerges with a new identity. His name will vary with whim and circumstan

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