Not my dust jacket, but the one that my tattered red hardcover would have had when it hit the book shops.
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy ~ 1905. This edition: Hodder and Stoughton, 1950. Hardcover. 256 pages.
Do I really need to give a whole lot of details here? This one of those books which (almost) everyone knows the plot of, if not by actual reading then by osmosis through publicly shared cultural literacy.
Here’s an economical précis, from Oxford University Press:
Sir Percy Blakeney lives a double life in the England of 1792: at home he is an idle fop and a leader of fashion, but abroad he is the Scarlet Pimpernel, a master of disguise who saves aristocrats from the guillotine. When the revolutionary French state seeks to unmask him, Percy’s estranged, independent wife, Marguerite, unwittingly sets their agent on her husband’s track. Percy’s escapades, and Marguerite’s daring journey to France to save him from the guillotine, keep the reader turning the pages of Baroness Orczy’s well-paced romantic adventure.
No prizes for guessing that Sir Percy survives the attempt to bring him down, with his final escape being due 100 percent to his amazing skill at disguise (of a broad variety, but most successfully as a “loathsome Hebraic”, which, though it sounds dreadful in quotes, is actually more of a shot at 1700s’ French prejudice than at the Jewish population of France), which has aided him in his escapades to pull off his daring rescues. Marguerite is merely a bit of background decoration, as it were. The menfolk (Sir P and his team of fellow sporting English noblemen) have things well in hand from start to finish.
This book is thoroughly dated in style, but it has retained its status for over a hundred years as a pretty good romp of an adventure tale. I find it rather heavy on the superlatives, myself. Sir Percy, public persona that of a “demmed idiot” – stupidest man in England – is the most fashionable as well as the richest nobleman in his coterie, while Lady Blakeney, formerly a French actress, is widely touted as the most beautiful woman in her crowd, as well as the most fashionably dressed and the “wittiest woman in Europe”.
We have The Scarlet Pimpernel to thank for all sorts of tropes in subsequent popular fiction, as he flicks the priceless Mechlin lace of his cuffs out of his way when getting down to business disguised by his bipartite persona, all hooded eyes, telling glances, and double entendres.
I quite happily read The Scarlet Pimpernel a number of times in my school years, always experiencing a frisson of vicarious passion when the noble Sir Percy Blakeney kisses the ground whereupon his desperately misguided wife has just trodden, shortly before he heads off to risk his life to rescue another batch of French aristocrats from the guillotine, with a cold-hearted agent of the French government hot on his heels, primed with damning information provided (all unbeknownst to Sir P) by Lady Blakeney herself.
Reading this some decades later as a much more judgemental adult, I found the love scenes to be more humorous than romantic; a certain cynicism has obviously developed with my years.
This is worth reading as a period piece, and for a glimpse at how an early 20th Century popular fiction writer pulled off an 18th Century historical fiction. The Baroness Orczy certainly had an enthusiastic pen, and a keen sense of what would appeal to her readers, not to mention her audience of theatre lovers. The Scarlet Pimpernel started life as a play staged in 1903; the stunningly popular novelization followed.
A number of not-quite-so-well-known sequels followed. The Scarlet Pimpernel itself has never been out-of-print since its publication. Ridiculously easy to find secondhand, and available online through Gutenberg, along with oodles of other Orczys.
My rating: 7/10
Leaves & Pages 
……those Frenchies seek him everywhere. ”
I am so excited you wrote a review on one of my favourite books.
Hi
I an always delightful to meet another Georgette Heyer fan.
Most people like her only for her Recency romances but I love all her detective novels too.
Her humour makes it a pleasure to read both genres.
Oops
am always delighted….
Stupid autocorrect.
Auto”correct” indeed. I had to type Georgette Heyer three times to get it to stop changing it to something like Bridgette Jeter.
Besides her Regencies and mysteries, she could really buckle the swash with her 18th century adventures, such as The Masqueraders and These Old Shades and The Talisman Ring.
The last two are my favourites.
Yes, it’s very “light” considering the subject matter. But it’s a fun novel, and holds up surprisingly well, though I have to admit I found it a bit silly here and there.
Oh yes, I certainly enjoyed it in high school. I was reading every Georgette Heyer i could get my hands on then as well. And I recall the movie with, ummmm, Leslie Howard? was a treat too. But I think I will let both live in my fond memory.
I read the Scarlet Pimpernel as an adult but still managed to enjoy it thoroughly.
It is a complete opposite of Dickens’ realistic portrayal of the French revolution in A Tale of Two Cities.
Oh, wait. To watch the whole 1934 movie, it’s here:
Thank you! Will have to see if I can watch this on my molasses-slow rural internet. 🙂
This is lurking near the top of my French Revolution pile of books ready to be attacked – I could do with a light read I think! 🙂
It’s a surprisingly light read for a novel centered on the French Revolution! I mean, bad stuff is going on and the central plot involves the rescue of people in the nick of time when the guillotine clangs down, but it’s all very romantical beginning to end.
Yes
Despite having a very serious setting this book is as light as souffle.
I also greatly enjoyed “The Scarlet Pimpernel” – which I read years and years ago, after greatly enjoying the film with Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon.
One can’t be serious ALL the time…
I have often wondered what this would be like to read. I’m not surprised it is a little dated, part of its charm perhaps. It does sound great fun.
Oh how I love this book. It’s one of the first books I can remember truly losing myself in — I was reading it for the first time on the bus ride home from school, and I didn’t notice the passage of time at all. When the bus stopped at my stop and my sister called my name to remind me to get off, it was a huge surprise. And I agree with you that there’s a lot here that’s, um, a bit silly on a reread. But fun silly, I think (at least for me).
I have just found your blog and what a surprise to see a review of the Scarlet Pimpernel as Baroness Orczy was my great grand mother. I have a full collection of her books and enjoy them.
I have just found your blog and what a surprise to read your review of The Scarlet Pimpernel as Baroness Orczy was my great grandmother. I have a full collection of her books and enjoy reading them when a lighter read is required after a heavy tome. Am enjoying reading your reviews so my wish list is growing.
Thanks for finally talking about >”They seek him here, they seek him there…” ~ The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy | Leaves & Pages <Liked it!
You might think of warning readers of the Jewish persuasion (or those with any modern sensibilities) that the book is rampant with antisemitic stereotypes
Yes, indeed, it is stuffed full of stereotyped characters, some decidedly offensive to 21st century readers, as are so many novels of its vintage. The debate over whether these books should be a.) allowed to vanish in the sands of time or b.) labelled with a “Warning!” sticker (speaking figuratively), or c.) read and discussed with the assumption that bias and exaggeration in literature is something one will continuously meet up with and must navigate around according to one’s personal comfort level with making allowances for attitudes at the time of each book’s publishing.
In the case of this particular book, the Jewish stereotypes are on full display, but I found it rather interesting in how the author also uses these attitudes to make a point about the extremes of race and class prejudice in French society at the time of the novel’s setting, even (or in particular) among the “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité!” crowd busy confounding their own slogans by their actions.
Thoughts?