The current global refugee crisis has prompted scholars from a wide range of disciplines to consider the many aspects of human migration. Historians have characteristically turned to the past and the exploration of previous displacements. Among the better known, at least among specialists of Europe, is the early modern Huguenot diaspora, commonly referred to as the Refuge. Thus, Vivienne Larminie and a dozen colleagues offer a series of essays that investigate Huguenot refugee networks with particular attention to the British Isles. While the concept of the network is not new, the volume's comprehensive, integrated approach to the myriad elements of the Huguenot refugee experience is refreshing and illuminating. The array of themes stretches from diplomatic, scholarly, and commercial alliances to religious and familial affiliations.

Mark Greengrass initiates the discussion with a largely historiographic essay examining the notion of a Calvinist International and the ways in which it has colored our understanding of Huguenot networks and their place within broader European-wide Reformed networks. Hugues Daussy extends inquiry into this trans-European argument in his assessment of London as the hub of a Huguenot diplomatic network during the Wars of Religion. The volume's editor, Vivienne Larminie, further elucidates the political-diplomatic perspective, emphasizing the role of prominent English peers and Parliamentarians who became crucial patrons of the French Protestant migrants during the tumultuous years of the mid-seventeenth century. By the end of the century, as Charles Littleton makes clear, a number of Huguenot journalists and pamphleteers gained entry into a network of Whig members of Parliament and there secured valuable political information and encouraged opposition to Louis XIV. A subsequent chapter by Michael Schaich reveals the broad scope of Huguenot networks in his exploration of educated refugees whose international connections made them highly prized information brokers in the diplomatic efforts of the governments of Great Britain, the Netherlands, and a number of German princely states.

Robin Gwynn complements the various chapters on the political and diplomatic dynamics of the Refuge with his treatment of ecclesiastical issues. The French Reformed church on London's Treadneedle Street was the largest and best organized French church in Britain during the later Stuarts’ reigns. The problems it faced and resolved—organizing the pastorate, maintaining unity, and adjusting to a new country—lent it a preeminent place in providing advice and examples to other congregations. Yves Krumenacker's essay turns to the intriguing question of where the Huguenot exiles went and why. He concludes that the destinations were by no means haphazard; they were closely linked to commercial and kinship networks. Along similar lines, Barbara Julien has mined the records of the French church at Thorpe-le-Soken to explore the career of Alexandre Sasserie, a relatively obscure figure who exemplifies the interconnection of familial, religious, and professional ties. Philippa Woodcock also fastens upon a single person, in this case Philip Dupont, to illuminate the manner by which refugee pastors integrated their Continental upbringing and training with the Church of England's requirements.

In her scrutiny of the voluminous correspondence of Élie Bouhéreau, Ruth Whelan underscores the importance of epistolary networks established prior to the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 for proper appreciation of the subsequent Huguenot diaspora. Financial dynamics also permeated the Refuge, often in complex ways, as Marie Lóutre demonstrates in her essay detailing the largely unofficial banking system for the payment of military pensions to Huguenots who had served William III in Ireland. Jane McKee expands on the Huguenot presence in Ireland with her instructive analysis of the geographic origins and marriage patterns of the Dublin Huguenot community. The volume concludes with Sugiko Nishikawa's chapter on English poor-relief projects to address the ever-present problem of poverty among refugee communities.

Larminie has gathered an impressive set of contributions, which serve to clarify the character and operation of the diverse Huguenot networks. To be sure, the present telling privileges the experience of migrants to the British Isles. One would like, in this regard, to learn more about the extent to which the findings presented here were replicated elsewhere in the European Refuge. In addition, men of the elite or near elite dominate the essays. Greater attention to female networks and those among artisans would have been warmly welcomed.