Scarlet Pimpernel
Baroness Orczy
Hardcover
(Impress Mystery, Jan. 1, 2007)
The last and best hope for aristocrats under threat of death in revolutionary Paris, The Scarlet Pimpernel risks life and limb to help the upper-class escape to the safety of England. Part romance, part thriller, The Scarlet Pimpernel is the first in a series of novels about Percy Blakeney, an unassuming Englishman who lives a double life in France at the height of the Reign of Terror. Adapted from her play, Baroness Emma Orczy’s The Scarlet Pimpernel is considered one of the greatest adventure novels of all time, and is one of the first examples of the masked avenger genre, which paved the way for such modern-day heroes as Zorro and Spider-Man. In addition to its beginnings as a play, The Scarlet Pimpernel has been adapted for television and film.