The Scarlet Pimpernel
- Book Review,
by Baroness Orczy
From AudioFile
With the stage debut of The Scarlet Pimpernel (1903), the Baroness Orczy invented the "masked avenger" genre of fiction--the swashbuckling hero of dual identity. Her progeny include Zorro, Superman, The Lone Ranger and many others. The Baroness's Pimpernel is a British fop who, in a play and series of popular novels, daringly spirited condemned innocents out of France during the Reign of Terror. Hugh Laurie, best known Stateside as the foppish Bertie Wooster in TV's "Wooster and Jeeves," plunges into these two adventures with childlike relish. Yes, he is corny; yes, he overdoes it; but irresistibly. That's what this fare is made for. As he reads, one pictures, not the dashing Leslie Howard, cinema's Pimpernel, but a little boy performing for the family behind his homemade puppet theater. Sorry, Baroness, I know this isn't what you had in mind, but it's far better. Y.R. An AudioFile Earphones Award winner. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Review
?Arguably the best adventure story ever published and certainly the most influential that appeared during the early decades of the twentieth century.??Gary Hoppenstand
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Book Description
An irresistible blend of romance, intrigue, and suspense, this timeless historical adventure recalls the Reign of Terror following the French Revolution, when ruthless mobs ruled the streets of Paris and hundreds of royals were condemned to face the guillotine each day. The only hope of many was a courageous leader who spirited aristocrats across the Channel to England and safety. Known by the name of the wildflower he leaves as a calling card, the Pimpernel becomes the darling of the people and is particularly admired by Marguerite Blakeney, who scorns her foppish husband as ardently as she esteems this gallant hero.
Download Description
If you've never read The Scarlet Pimpernel, order this great book now! Move over Zorro and Superman ? here is the first costumed-hero with a secret identity, plus literature's most fiery, independent and alluring heroine.
Card catalog description
In 1792, during the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, an English aristocrat known to be an ineffectual fop is actually a master of disguises who, with a small band of dedicated friends, undertakes dangerous missions to save members of the French nobility from the guillotine.
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