Scaramouche is the protagonist of Rafael Sabatini’s French Revolution adventure novels. His real name is Andre-Louis Moreau, a provincial lawyer who adopts the stage name Scaramouche when he joins a traveling theater company after his friend is killed by an aristocrat in a duel he had no chance of winning.
Moreau is a man who keeps becoming someone new. He is a lawyer who becomes an actor, an actor who becomes the best fencing master in Paris, a fencing master who becomes a revolutionary politician. At every stage, his wit and his anger at injustice drive him forward. The two novels follow him through the most violent years of the French Revolution, and his ability to adapt without losing himself is what keeps him alive. The Scaramouche series collects both novels in reading order.
Reading Order#
See the complete Scaramouche reading order for all books in the series.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Scaramouche?
Scaramouche is the stage name of Andre-Louis Moreau, a young French lawyer who is drawn into the Revolution after a nobleman kills his closest friend. He joins a traveling theater company, takes the name Scaramouche from the commedia dell’arte, and becomes one of the finest swordsmen in France while pursuing justice.
How many books feature Scaramouche?
Scaramouche appears in two novels by Rafael Sabatini: Scaramouche (1921) and Scaramouche The King Maker (1931).
What makes Scaramouche a memorable character?
Moreau reinvents himself repeatedly — lawyer, actor, fencing master, revolutionary politician — and does so with a sharp wit and a refusal to take himself too seriously, even as the world around him descends into violence. The novel’s famous opening line describes him perfectly: he was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad.