As stated in the afterword to the revised edition of A Coin in NineHands, the novel was clearly political in design and considered by the author as one of the first French novels "to confront the hollow reality behind the bloated facade of Fascism." Undoubtedly, Yourcenar is attempting to investigate and expose the imperceptible evil she envisions as permeating the quality of life within pre-World War II Italy, simultaneously incorporating the delusion of idealism and the mastery of deception. Interestingly, the contemporary setting of A Coin in Nine Hands, Rome in 1933, is atypical of Yourcenar, and clearly the novel occupies a relatively distinct position within her body of work. Thematically, however, Yourcenar traverses a familiar literary landscape: the eternal mystery of human destiny, the restoration of self by means of illusion, and the psychological contrast of physical and spiritual death.

In the novel...