Vidocq

François Vidocka, once a soldier of the Empire, deserts his regiment under the weight of familial longing, only to discover that his beloved wife has been reborn as Manon‑la‑Blonde, the paramour of the affluent Ouvrard, while his offspring have vanished into the city's shadows. Driven by desperation, Vidocq slips into the underworld as a burglar, yet his path converes with the chief of the nascent intelligence service, who commissions him to dismantle the notorious gang led by the enigmatic Aristo, the self‑styled "Children of the Sun." Over a span of years, Vidocq infiltrates the syndicate, unravels its cryptic hierarchies, and, in a climactic convergence, rescues his two sons: one, a hardened blackguard; the other, a celebrated organist on the cusp of knighthood and impending matrimony. The narrative weaves themes of redemption, paternal devotion, and the mutable nature of identity against a backdrop of post‑war Parisian intrigue.