Just finished reading 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' by Baroness Emmuska Ocrzy. Loved it. Now I know where all the old M&Bs I used to read in college got their inspiration from :)
The novel is set right in the middle of the French Revolution. It's the year 1972 and the aristrocrats in Paris are being beheaded by the hundreds at the guillotine. Their only hope for rescue - the Scarlet Pimpernal . Reknowned for his daring rescues and clever disguises, his identity is a mystery to all but his league of loyal followers.
The book is filled with a host of intriguing characters:
The cunning French agent Chauvelin - who is bent upon hunting down the Scarlet Pimpernel
The beautiful and intelligent Marguerite Blakeney - who is blackmailed into spying on the Pimpernel's league
Sir Percy Blakeney - Marguerite's wealthy, gallant and handsome but dull-witted husband
The book is soooo romantic - with a love-story woven into swashbuckling adventure, along with intrigue and comedy.
Lines I loved:
Sir Percy Blakeney's witty poem:
"We seek him here, we seek him there,
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere,
Is he in heaven? - is he in hell?
That demmed elusive Pimpernel"
the whole of chapter XVI ;)
A hard lesson
4 months ago
1 comment:
Having read this book early on in my life, it was one of the factors responsible for my lofty romantic standards.
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