The Scarlet Pimpernel (Scarlet Pimpernel, #1)

by Baroness Orczy

The French nobility are living in terror; one by one they are sent to the guillotine. Revenge at last for the years of callousness and cruelty suffered by the people of France. There is no escape; the city walls of Paris are guarded day and night. And yet a few achieve the impossible, disappearing without a trace in Paris, only to re-emerge in the safety of England. Rumours abound of a group of young English gentleman of unparalleled daring. Under their anonymous leader they save scores of aristocrats from terrible deaths. And each time a note is put mockingly into the hands of the merciless tribunal chairman, Citoyen Tinville. On it is the stamp of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Tinville will do or pay anything to see the Englishmen dead but they seem to evade capture with almost devilish ease. But with the cunning and ruthless spy master, Chauvelin, on his trail, the Scarlet Pimpernel must make no slip for he has everything to lose.

• ISBN10: 1519642490
• ISBN13: 9781519642493
• Publish Date: 2 December 1905 (first published 1 January 1905)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 176
• Language: English

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

The woefully small number on my "read - classics" shelf has increased by 1.  While I've always known of The Scarlet Pimpernel as a character - an English spy - that is infamous for his daring rescues of French aristocrats, I don't think I ever really knew it was a book.  I can offer up no reason or excuse for this, but thanks to my BookLikes friends, it's a lapse that has been corrected.

 

My copy of The Scarlet Pimpernel is a FOTL find from my recent vacation and the cover says it is part of the "The Best Mysteries of All Time" series.  I wouldn't call this a mystery, though.  It felt more like an early 1900's action-suspense novel to me.  As a reader, was there ever really much doubt who The Scarlet Pimpernel was?  But the intrigue, the manipulation, the threats, the warnings, the running, the escape... and the escapes!  Lots of action and lots of suspense.

A lot of readers point to the florid writing and I agree, it is rather less er...modern than most books I've read that were written in the same time frame.  But the story itself takes place during the French Revolution, so the writing didn't feel out of place to me and I didn't struggle at all with comprehension after the first page or so.  

I won't pretend that I didn't have some confusion over Marguerite - I never quite got what the author wanted me to think about her 'wittiest woman in all of Europe'.  There was a bit of bouncing between strong/weak, smart/dim, stoicism/over-wrought-female.  But this was written over 100 years ago about a time over 150 years ago.  I have no idea what women were like 150 years ago but I'm certain I'd not identify with them overmuch.

For me, it was the last few chapters that drove me away from a full five stars.  Could everything that happened after the scene in the 'Chat Gris' been strung out any longer?  I was beginning to feel like an over-wound spring; I found myself thinking "Oh just something HAPPEN already!! Gah!"

The story was great fun and I clearly see why it is still such a popular choice.  It's a true classic and even though I've heard from everyone that the sequels just don't compare to this first, I find myself tempted to hunt one down to see what happens next.