I'm not going to lie, I was not optimistic about this book. But my initial judgements were based on nothing but the name and the fact that it was an "old" book. I should have heeded the old saying "don't judge a book by it's cover" but I didn't. I judged. If it weren't for my book group I would have never read this book. And that is precisely why I love book group. It forces me to read books that I wouldn't normally choose, and usually I end up pleasantly surprised. So here I am, ready to enlighten all you who have judged this book by it's cover. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy takes places during revolutionary France. The royal family is in prison and the new government is sending every aristocrat they can find to the guillotine. I'll admit I was put off a little bit at the beginning of this book because I swear the said "Madame Guillotine" twenty times in the first chapter. Redundancy really rubs me the wrong way, but I digress. Once you get past Madame Guillotine it starts to pick up. There is an English man, by name of The Scarlet Pimpernel, who runs a secret operation to smuggle French aristocrats out of France and in to England. The French are baffled by how imaginative and cunning The Scarlet Pimpernel is. He is constantly outwitting them. A couple chapters in the leading lady of our story, Marguerite Blakeney, is introduced. She is a French woman, married to an English nobleman, who gets blackmailed in to helping a French spy discover the identity of The Scarlet Pimpernel. The books tells the story of her discovering his identity and then trying to right her wrong of helping the French spy.
It really is a fun little read and I honestly had trouble putting it down. I like a little mystery now and then and the setting of Revolutionary France really adds adventure and danger to the story. I've been telling my husband he needs to read this for the past few days but he just keeps brushing the idea aside. So don't you brush me off! Most libraries will carry this book, it's free from Amazon if you have a Kindle, and I've seen it sold at stores for as little as a dollar so really you have no excuse not to go out and get this book today. It's a quick read so it's not a huge time commitment and I really did enjoy it. I'm not that discriminating of a reader. As long as the story flows and it captures my attention I'll read most anything. I was worried this would be a boring, dry read like other "old" books I've tried to read but it wasn't. A good summer read. Now on to new books!
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