Baroness Emmuska Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel began its literary life as a short story. It was then turned into a successful play, and not until 1905 was the novelization released. It has been in print ever since. It's not hard to see why. It's a rather simple story really with a small cast of characters, but vastly entertaining. It's full of lofty ideals, drama, intrigue and romance.
It begins in 1792 during the dark days of the French Revolution. The heads of the French aristocracy are rolling and blood literally flows through the streets of Paris. There seems to be little hope for those accused by the revolutionaries for crimes against the state save for one daring man who risks all to save them. The Scarlet Pimpernel and his league of followers heroically disguise themselves and aid those destined for the guillotine to escape sure death. Time and time again the Scarlet Pimpernel rescues aristocrats under the very noses of those who wish to see them dead. Of course there is a price on the heads of those men--particularly on the Scarlet Pimpernel himself.
On the other side of the channel Sir Percy Blakeney is married to Marguerite St. Just, a popular French actress. They fell madly in love when they met, but after the wedding when Marguerite admits to Percy that a family of aristocrats were sent to the guillotine through an inadvertent and unintended denunciation she made, he cannot forgive her. She comes to despise Sir Percy, who is rather silly and foppish. He seems to care for nothing but the cut of his clothes.
Enter M. Chauvelin. He's a nasty piece of work. He lusts after the blood of the wealthy, and even more so for the blood of the Scarlet Pimpernel who he resolves to capture on French soil and send to his death. He is without conscience or sympathy. When he discovers that Armand St. Just, brother to Marguerite, is in league with the Scarlet Pimpernel he blackmails Marguerite into finding out the identity of the anonymous hero. Marguerite is the toast of the town. She has entree into the highest society and is privy to conversations that M. Chauvelin has no hope of entering. She must make a decision to send either her brother or the Scarlet Pimpernel to his death. It is an agonizing decision as she has come to admire the heroic Pimpernel.
I won't tell you who Marguerite chooses or how it ends. The plotting of the book is excellent. At the end of each chapter, Orczy leaves you hanging. Of course you want to continue on and read the next chapter, and the next, and the next. It's hard not to be captivated by the Scarlet Pimpernel. He's loyal and idealistic and you admire him for his ability to very slickly avoid Chauvelin's traps. It's a slender book that's full of adventure with a very satisfying ending.
I've moved on to Rebecca West' s The Fountain Overflows. I've only read the first few pages, but I hope to spend some time reading it this weekend. How can you resist a book that's described this way:
"A real Dickensian Christmas pudding of a book—full of incident, full of family delights, full of parties and partings, strange bits of London, the lobby of the House of Commons, a classic murder with portraits of the murderer, the murderee and a couple of innocent bystanders, bill collectors, kitchen fires, good food, and a considerable quota of ghosts. West's is a world that is a delight to enter and to live in, warm and vital, and constantly entertaining."
I've got Hugo's Les Miserables lined up after the West. I know I am planning ahead here, but I am really looking forward to reading Hugo and am glad I won't be reading him alone. The unabridged version (is everyone planning on reading the unabridged version?) is over 1,400 pages. I need to look at it and see how it can be divided up--another project for the weekend. I hope to keep a steady pace in reading, so perhaps I'll post weekly or every other week as I did for Kristin Lavransdatter. I'm glad now to have squeezed in The Scarlet Pimpernel as it gave me a little taste of a French setting.