Books with author Baroness Emmuska Orczy Orczy

Pimpernel and Rosemary is a novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, originally published in 1924. It is set after the First World War and features Peter Blakeney, a descendant of the Scarlet Pimpernel (Percy Blakeney).The action is mainly set amongst the disaffected Hungarian nobility in Transylvania, allowing Orczy to draw on her knowledge of Hungarian history and politics.Pimpernel and Rosemary is the final novel in the Scarlet Pimpernel Series.

HE LOVED HER AND HE LOVED ROME!Taurus Antinor loved her, that she knew. The last four days had made a woman of her: she had tasted of and witnessed every passion that rends a human heart, love, ambition, cruelty, hatred! The man whom she loved, loved her with an intensity at least equal to that which even now made her heart throb at the memory of his kiss. He loved her, longed for her, would have laid down his life for her even at the moment when he tore himself away from her arms.BUT TAURUS ANTINOR HAD A GREATER LOVE!Dea Flavia was like a goddess of love in Classical Rome. Beautiful, young and rich, she was worshipped by men and envied by women. But then she met the handsome and mysterious Taurus Antinor — and his mission.And her life changed forever.Could she survive the blood-crazed politics of Rome? Could she fend off the advances of a mad emperor called — Caligula?

By 1792, the idealism of the French Revolution has degenerated into a Reign of Terror. Ruthless mobs rule the streets of Paris, and each day, hundreds of royalists are sacrificed to the guillotine, with hundreds more condemned to follow. Their only hope lies in rescue by the Scarlet Pimpernel, the daring leader of an English faction that spirits aristocrats across the Channel to safety. This historical adventure tale first appeared in 1905, but its irresistible blend of romance, intrigue, and suspense renders it timeless. Readers thrill to the gallantry of the Pimpernel, whose nom de guerre derives from the wildflower he employs as a calling card. A scourge to the French authorities, the Pimpernel is the darling of the people — particularly Marguerite Blakeney, who scorns her foppish husband, Sir Percy, as ardently as she admires the Pimpernel. The basis of a classic film, this ever-popular story has recently been adapted as a musical, to the delight of Broadway audiences.

In the late 18th century, France was in the throes of the French Revolution. Of particular tumult during this conflict were the years known as the “Reign of Terror”, a time in which a revolutionary tribunal executed thousands of French citizens. It is during the “Reign of Terror” in which Baroness Emmuska Orczy’s “The Scarlet Pimpernel” is set. “The Scarlet Pimpernel” is the story of Sir Percy Blakeney, a chivalrous Englishman married to the beautiful French actress, Marguerite St. Just, with whom he pretends to be a slow-witted dandy. However this is but a ruse to hide his true identity as the Scarlet Pimpernel, who with his “League of the Scarlet Pimpernel”, a secret society of English aristocrats, rescue French royalists before they can be marched atop the guillotine. Drawing his nickname from the small red flower he draws on his messages, the Scarlet Pimpernel is chased the relentless French agent Citizen Armand Chauvelin as he tries to intervene in the madness of the “Reign of Terror”. First published in 1905, “The Scarlet Pimpernel” is notable for its introduction to literature of a hero with a secret identity. This edition includes a biographical afterword.

The Scarlet Pimpernel was first published in 1905 and has proved to be Orczy’s most famous and popular novel. The work was originally rejected by publishers, so she refashioned it as a play, with little initial success.The book continued to be popular throughout the twentieth century and was adapted for film, stage and television on multiple occasions. One of the most famous and well-considered adaptations is the 1934 film starring Leslie Howard and directed by Harold Young. The television adaptations include a 1955-56 version and the 1999-2000 BBC production starring Richard E. Grant and Elizabeth McGovern.The Scarlet Pimpernel is set in 1792 during the French Revolution, but centres on an English hero performing great and brave deeds in a violent and murderous climate. Marguerite St Just is a beautiful French actress, who is married to the English fop, Sir Percy Blakeney. The couple have become estranged as Marguerite has tired of her husband’s seemingly superficial lifestyle. She has heard about the exploits of the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel — an unknown English man — who is daily helping French aristocrats to escape the Revolution. She is captivated and entranced by the stories surrounding him, but is soon forced into a position where she must assist the French ambassador to England in capturing the elusive man. Orczy’s novel unfolds with a series of twists and turns, with frequent moments of excitement and tension. The author’s aristocratic heritage no doubt contributed to the politically conservative nature of the work, and her desire to make the hero of a tale an Englishman also underlines not only her own views but her belief in the nationalistic disposition of her English readership.

The elusive Pimpernel returns for another swashbuckling adventure in El Dorado. The still-raging French Revolution continues to claim lives, and the shadow of the guillotine draws ever nearer to the young Dauphin, son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. No one dares to attempt to liberate the little prince — no one, that is, but the mysterious Sir Percy Blakeney, also known as the Scarlet Pimpernel. Sir Percy takes on one of Robespierre's agents, the scheming Citizen Chauvelin, in a suspenseful blend of action and political intrigue, recounted with captivating period detail. Unabridged republication of the classic 1913 edition.

Does it need one? If so it must also come from those members of the Blakeney family in whose veins runs the blood of that Sir Percy Blakeney who is known to history as the Scarlet Pimpernel—for they in a manner are responsible for the telling of this veracious chronicle. For the past eight years now—ever since the true story of The Scarlet Pimpernel was put on record by the present author—these gentle, kind, inquisitive friends have asked me to trace their descent back to an ancestor more remote than was Sir Percy, to one in fact who by his life and by his deeds stands forth from out the distant past as a conclusive proof that the laws which govern the principles of heredity are as unalterable as those that rule the destinies of the universe. They have pointed out to me that since Sir Percy Blakeney's was an exceptional personality, possessing exceptional characteristics which his friends pronounced sublime and his detractors arrogant—he must have had an ancestor in the dim long ago who was, like him, exceptional, like him possessed of qualities which call forth the devotion of friends and the rancour of enemies. Nay, more! there must have existed at one time or another a man who possessed that same sunny disposition, that same irresistible laughter, that same careless insouciance and adventurous spirit which were subsequently transmitted to his descendants, of whom the Scarlet Pimpernel himself was the most distinguished individual. All these were unanswerable arguments, and with the request that accompanied them I had long intended to comply. Time has been my only enemy in thwarting my intentions until now—time and the multiplicity of material and documents to be gone through ere vague knowledge could be turned into certitude. Now at last I am in a position to present not only to the Blakeneys themselves, but to all those who look on the Scarlet Pimpernel as their hero and their friend—the true history of one of his most noted forebears. Strangely enough his history has never been written before. And yet countless millions must during the past three centuries have stood before his picture; we of the present generation, who are the proud possessors of that picture now, have looked on him many a time, always with sheer, pure joy in our hearts, our lips smiling, our eyes sparkling in response to his; almost forgetting the genius of the artist who portrayed him in the very realism of the personality which literally seems to breathe and palpitate and certainly to laugh to us out of the canvas.

The Scarlet Pimpernel is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy, published in 1905. It was written after her stage play of the same title enjoyed a long run in London, having opened in Nottingham in 1903.The novel is set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The title is the nom de guerre of its hero and protagonist, a chivalrous Englishman who rescues aristocrats before they are sent to the guillotine. Sir Percy Blakeney leads a double life: apparently nothing more than a wealthy fop, but in reality a formidable swordsman and a quick-thinking escape artist. The band of gentlemen who assist him are the only ones who know of his secret identity. He is known by his symbol, a simple flower, the scarlet pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis). Marguerite Blakeney, his French wife, does not share his secret. She is approached by the new French envoy to England, Chauvelin, with a threat to her brother's life if she does not aid in the search for the Pimpernel. She aids him, and then discovers that the Pimpernel is also very dear to her. She sails to France to stop the envoy.Opening at the New Theatre in London's West End on January 5, 1905, the play became a favourite of British audiences, eventually playing more than 2,000 performances and becoming one of the most popular shows staged in Britain.Orczy's premise of a daring hero who cultivates a secret identity disguised by a meek or ineffectual manner proved enduring. Zorro, The Shadow, The Phantom, Superman and Batman followed within a few decades, and the trope remains a popular one in serial fiction today.