Rafael Sabatini 
Scaramouche 
A Romance of the French Revolution

Scaramouche is a swashbuckling romantic adventure set during the French Revolution. A young lawyer becomes enmeshed in political turmoil, and goes into hiding as an actor with a traveling commedia dell’arte troupe. He plays the buffoon, Scaramouche. During his adventures he also becomes a master politician and swordsman, and though he is a revolutionary, circumstances force him to change sides several times. The tone of the book is set from the opening line: "He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad."