The Scarlet Pimpernel is a swashbuckling adventure set in 1792 during the French Revolution. As hundreds of French aristocrats lose their heads to the guillotine, a band of intrepid English gentleman makes it their sport to boldly rescue these victims and hustle them to safety in England. The mysterious leader of this gang is the wily Scarlet Pimpernel, who signs his notes with a little drawing that same "humble wayside flower."
The main character is a beautiful Frenchwoman, Marguerite Blakeney, "the cleverest woman in Europe," who languishes in her marriage to a dandified fop, Sir Percy Blakeney. The story charts her disillusionment with her husband and involvement in the revolutionary and counterrevolutionary schemes that surround the Scarlet Pimpernel and his 19 loyal devotees.
The language is beautiful, the plot is exciting, and it has a satisfactorily happy ending, which apparently had not yet gone out of fashion in 1905 when the Baroness was writing. Highly, highly recommend.
*Note: I know Dad read this fairly recently but couldn't find the link - if you wrote about this, Dad, please include the link to your review here and I will comment on yours. Otherwise, feel free to add your thoughts here!*
Oh, it wasn't all that recently I read it, but it's hard not to really enjoy the book, even as you can pretty much guess lots of the plot elements. The best thing of all, certainly, is the witty ditty composed by Sir Percy:
ReplyDeleteThey seek him here
They seek him there
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere!
Is he in heaven or is he in hell?
That demmed elusive Pimpernel!
The illustrations in the Folio version are very nice.
Sounds a bit like England's answer to Dumas? Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteYeah, maybe. And (oops, spoiler) some Zorro thrown in!
ReplyDelete