Tuesday 19 May 2020

Top Shelf Books #14 – The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

The next book to make it to The Top Shelf is

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy, 1905

‘A surging, seething, murmuring crowd of beings that are human only in name, for to the eye and ear they seem naught but savage creatures, animated by vile passions and by the lust of vengeance and of hate.’

Although I was vaguely aware of The Scarlet Pimpernel growing up, it didn’t really catch my interest until I saw the 1934 Leslie Howard movie.

I used to have a lot of trouble sleeping at night when I was a teenager and young adult. Well, I still do sometimes, but it was worst during college and university. I missed a lot of classes because I was too tired to get there. So while I was awake and unable to sleep in the early hours, I started watching TV and for some reason TV put on a lot of old movies during those early hours. This way I discovered several of my favourite films, from halfway through. For a while there, I really thought that watching a movie second half first was the best way to get into it. The second half throws you straight into the action, no slow build up that might not catch your attention, and then when you watch it again from the start, you really appreciate all the character development and nuances that explain what you already saw!

Anyway, one of these movies was Pimpernel Smith, starring Leslie Howard. I absolutely adored it.

When I found out that it was inspired by Leslie Howard’s earlier role as the Scarlet Pimpernel, I had to see that movie too.

Many, many years later, I thought it might be nice to actually read the novel my favourite Leslie Howard movies are based on.

The particular edition of the book I have, gifted to me Xmas 2014 by The Housemate, is unfortunately simply hideous. It looks like a textbook and I have no idea how accurate the text is.

The Scarlet Pimpernel is set during the French Revolution. A gang of young Englishmen have been going over to France to rescue aristocrats from the guillotine, led by the anonymous titular character. The French want to catch this man so they send a spy to England, who blackmails his old friend Marguerite Blakeney into helping him discover and betray this hero in exchange for her brother’s life.

“It does seem simple, doesn’t it?” she said, with a final bitter attempt at flippancy, “when you want to kill a chicken… you take hold of it… then you wring its neck… it’s only the chicken who does not find it quite so simple. Now you hold a knife at my throat, and a hostage for my obedience… You find it simple… I don’t.”
“Nay, citoyenne, I offer you a chance of saving the brother you love from the consequences of his own folly.”
Marguerite’s face softened, her eyes at last grew moist, as she murmured, half to herself:
“The only being in the world who has loved me truly and constantly… But what do you want me to do, Chauvelin?” she said, with a world of despair in her tear-choked voice. “In my present position, it is well-nigh impossible!”
“Nay, citoyenne,” he said drily and relentlessly, not heeding that despairing, childlike appeal, which might have melted a heart of stone, “as Lady Blakeney, no one suspects you, and with your help to-night I may⸻who knows?⸻succeed in finally establishing the identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel… You are going to the ball anon… Watch for me there, citoyenne, watch and listen… You can tell me if you hear a chance word or whisper… You can note everyone to whom Sir Andrew Ffoulkes or Lord Antony Dewhurst will speak. You are absolutely beyond suspicion now. The Scarlet Pimpernel will be at Lord Grenville’s ball to-night. Find out who he is, and I will pledge the word of France that your brother shall be safe.”
Chauvelin was putting the knife to her throat. Marguerite felt herself entangled in one of those webs, from which she could hope for no escape. A precious hostage was being held for her obedience: for she knew that this man would never make an empty threat. No doubt Armand was already signalled to the Committee of Public Safety as one of the “suspect”; he would not be allowed to leave France again, and would be ruthlessly struck, if she refused to obey Chauvelin. For a moment⸻woman-like⸻she still hoped to temporise. She held out her hand to this man, whom she now feared and hated.
“If I promise to help you in this matter, Chauvelin,” she said pleasantly, “will you give me that letter of St. Just’s?”
“If you render me useful service to-night, citoyenne,” he replied with a sarcastic smile, “I will give you that letter… to-morrow.”
“You do not trust me?”
“I trust you absolutely, dear lady, but St. Just’s life is forfeit to his country… it rests with you to redeem it.”
“I may be powerless to help you,” she pleaded, “were I ever so willing.”
“That would be terrible indeed,” he said quietly, “for you… and for St. Just.”
I guess the genre is kind of melodrama, but it’s still enjoyable. The novel focuses much less on the Scarlet Pimpernel himself than adaptations seem to. It is mostly about Marguerite. The scenes featuring him are brilliant, so it’s kind of a shame he’s not in it much, but I like that the main character of this adventure is a woman and the story is about her journey, miserable in an estranged marriage, being blackmailed and trapped, and proving her loyalty and love against huge odds and danger.

You can read my 4 star review on Goodreads here.



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