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My favorite book is "The Scarlet Pimpernel" by Baroness Orczy. Who else has read and loved this classic?! I swear that I have read that book five times! If you have not already read it then you have to put it on your book list! Also, I wanted to comment that there is a series following the book. Not many people are aware of this, but I wanted to let Pimpernel fans know about it! "Eldorado" is book 5 I believe, and I love it as much as the first book. You can find it on Amazon, Alibris, Ebay etc.
PIMPERNEL FANS UNITE!

I can't say i'm a huge fan but i have read the first one. I thought it quite strange that it was written by a woman given how useless Marguerite proves in the book.
However thanks for the info, i was not aware of any sequels apart from the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel. I shall have to check out some of the others.

I'm on a reading list of things referenced in the 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics', the Blakeney's are members of second league. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthre ... 2057074266

There is an odd reference in the League comics to one of Percy's ancestors which the internet has failed to clarify. He is said to be 'a one-eyed horse thief with a desperate mania for public self-pollution'. Perhaps one of the other books will enlighten me as to Alan Moore's twisted train of thought in this matter.

PS: You don't need to buy books on amazon you know, i'm sure its out of copyright and available for free on net.

Thanks for the interesting info! I'm sure it is available for free on a website such as Project Gutenburg, but I haven't checked yet.
I have seen Percy Blakeney's signature on old documents that failed to burn in attempts to destroy them. It is very fascinating! I have read the biography of him by a supposed John Blakeney, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. For instance, I know that the Dauphin died and was not rescued by TSP as the book claimed.

literarylover+ wrote:Thanks for the interesting info! I'm sure it is available for free on a website such as Project Gutenburg, but I haven't checked yet.
I have seen Percy Blakeney's signature on old documents that failed to burn in attempts to destroy them. It is very fascinating! I have read the biography of him by a supposed John Blakeney, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. For instance, I know that the Dauphin died and was not rescued by TSP as the book claimed.

Eh... you know he's not a real person right . There are no signatures or biography or anything. The fictional bio your referring too is 'The Life & Exploits of the Scarlet Pimpernel' probably written by Orczy's son according to this website i just found, which also has all the stories and other info. http://www.blakeneymanor.com

I just started the Laughing Cavalier due to your initial post, grabbed it from manybooks.net my favorite ebook resource, although it is getting a bit excessive with the ads.

I've actually downloaded Scarlet Pimpernel and will be reading it this weekend literarylover+. It sounds like an interesting read.

Oh thanks for including the link to Blakeney Manor, Wreade1872! I meant to include that before, but you beat me to it!
I really enjoyed "The Laughing Calvalier" so I'm glad you are going to read it! There is another sequel book to that one with that same character in it, but it slips my memory at the moment.
I am not positive whether or not he was real. I have read some things that made me think he might of been, but we'll have to see. His name probably wasn't Percy Blakeney, but I think it is quite probable that there was an English man who called himself the Scarlet Pimpernel and rescued people from the Terror.
KristineNicole, I'm so excited for you! I'm sure you'll love it! You really know that I loved it when I say it is my favorite book ever because I read a ton! Let me know what you think of it!

I read The Scarlet Pimpernel a couple of months ago. All in all, I enjoyed the book. Good adventure, the story moves right along, etc. I loved the character of Marguerite at the beginning of the book - the most beautiful, smartest, wittiest woman in Europe. But by the end she turns into a kind of useless, blathering idiot. The lack of consistency in her characterization bothered me a bit. But just a bit. Overall, I enjoyed it.

There is a book called "Phantom of the Guillotine" that has some interesting information concerning the theory that Percy Blakeney was based on a true person.

I will let you know what I think literarylover+.

I love these books! Be sure to read the first two in the series, The Laughing Cavalier and The First Sir Percy. They are just as great as The Scarlet Pimpernel and the rest.

Written by the very brave Cheryl Strayed, this is a heartbreaking and inspiring account of a woman who tries to find her place in the world by getting lost in the woods. Actually, the Pacific Coast Trail is a long and intense mission- thousands of miles of hiking through desert, trees and mountains from Southern California all the way up into Washington.

Strayed had some rough life events- she grew up poor, lost her mother to cancer, got married and divorced, then addicted to drugs. Out of balance, floating around, she decided to walk the PCT to gain a focus on life.






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I'm so glad there is a platform to share my love of The Scarlet Pimpernel! Finally someone understands the books I have loved since I was a little girl. Have any of you read the original manuscript for the play? I believe the Baroness intended it to be a play, but it was condensed into a novel later and then after its wild popularity many sequels and prequels were published. I would love to get my hands on a set of all of them. For now I have to settle for the free downloads on my Kindle.

I love The Scarlet Pimpernel! I agree that Marguerite's characterization goes downhill, but the idea of Percy himself, the dashing hero with the dual identities, was ground-breaking. I think The Scarlet Pimpernel is really the genesis of the masked crusader/superhero genre, which has obviously been pretty successful!

If you have seen the movies, which do you prefer? I have only seen the 1982 version with Anthony Andrews (Percy), Jane Seymour (Marguerite), and Ian McKellan (Chauvelin). I love it... I saw it before I read the book, and then had to hunt down the entire series to read. I found them on Project Gutenberg, in case you haven't found them all yet.

I have read this book and absolutely loved it. With such colourful descriptions of the characters, it is easy to imagine the story brought to life on stage. I do have to agree that Marguerite's initial strong character, fell to dust in front of my very eyes, but her husband's antics more than made up for it. Great book!

We seek him here, we seek him there, those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven? — Is he in hell? That damned, elusive Pimpernel!

This is the stuff of great drama, great suspense, great honor, beauty of the wife, her tragic position... the blackmail - the betrayal, and yet the true love that wins all in the end. I believe this is one of the greatest stories written. Have not been able to locate all the series, but definitely fell in love with the initial book.