9 h 26 minAudiobook10 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 26 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
He plays the fool in public. In secret, he rescues people from the guillotine.
In The Elusive Pimpernel, Baroness Orczy takes you into France during the Terror, where being named an enemy of the Revolution can mean death. Sir Percy Blakeney seems devoted to fashion and jokes. Behind that mask, he leads loyal friends who help the hunted escape.
Chauvelin, a French agent already humbled by the Pimpernel, is determined to unmask and catch him. Percy's wife, Marguerite, knows his secret and lives with the fear it brings. As disguises shift and the pursuit tightens, rescue depends on quick thinking, trusted companions, and a convincing false face.
What you’ll discover
- A fool with a secret Look past Percy's elegant clothes and jokes to the daring purpose his public manner conceals.
- An enemy who remembers Follow Chauvelin's relentless pursuit as he seeks to catch the man who has shamed him.
- Love under strain Share Marguerite's fear as love for her husband means knowing the danger behind his disguise.
- Friends who risk everything Meet Lord Anthony Dewhurst and Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, trusted companions who follow Percy into danger.
- Faces you cannot trust Enjoy quick escapes and changing identities in a world where ordinary appearances can hide daring intentions.
Who will love it
Readers who love swashbuckling adventure, clever heroes who hide behind a fop's manners, tense duels of wit, and a love story set against the French Revolution will find all of it here.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Paris invents a goddess
- A flower on a scrap of paper
- Summer fair and a strange booth
- Candeille and a humble enemy
- A kitchen maid's diamonds
- The quarrel and the challenge
- Marguerite follows her husband
- Room Number Six and the old priest
- A hostage city and a cruel offer
- The town waits and the letter is written
Who’s who
- Sir Percy BlakeneyA lazy English dandy who secretly leads the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel and cannot resist an adventure that may save lives.
- Marguerite BlakeneyPercy's wife, once a French actress, who knows his secret, guards it fiercely and will follow him into danger to be near him.
- ChauvelinA thin, clever former French ambassador who hates the Pimpernel and plans to destroy him through shame as well as death.
- RobespierreThe cold, sea-green leader of the Committee of Public Safety, who gives Chauvelin one last chance and a deadly warning.
- Desiree CandeilleA vain Paris actress, the daughter of a kitchen maid, who plays the part Chauvelin writes for her in return for rewards.
- Abbe FoucquetA gentle old priest of Boulogne, set to guard Marguerite because his niece and nephew are held as hostages.
- Collot d'HerboisA brutal, drunken official of the Committee who craves blood and sends a loud wave of cruelty into Boulogne.
- Juliette MarnyA young aristocrat rescued from the guillotine, who loses her temper at the sight of her mother's jewels on another woman.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 9 h 26 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 10 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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La Primula Rossa inafferrabile
by Baronessa Orczy · 1908
A drawing-room quarrel sends an English dandy and his wife into a trap laid in Revolutionary France.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Elusive Pimpernel is a historical adventure novel by Baroness Orczy, the author of The Scarlet Pimpernel, who died in 1947. It continues the tale of Sir Percy Blakeney, an English dandy who secretly leads a band of gentlemen rescuing people from the guillotine in the French Revolution.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Paris invents a goddess
The book opens in Paris in September 1793, and the mood is feverish. Marat has been killed. The guillotine is busy. The leaders of the Revolution now want a new toy for the people, and they decide it should be a new religion.
Procureur Chaumette proposes a Goddess of Reason, played by the most beautiful woman in Paris. Henriot wants a grand procession of defrocked priests and dancing girls. Fouquier-Tinville wants ten thousand heads on one great day. Collot d'Herbois boasts of his Noyades, in which prisoners are tied together on a barge with a hole in its bottom.
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What is The Elusive Pimpernel about?
It follows Sir Percy Blakeney, the secret leader of the Scarlet Pimpernel League, as his enemy Chauvelin lures him and his wife Marguerite to Boulogne with a duel challenge and a plot to destroy his honor.
Who is the Scarlet Pimpernel?
He is Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy and foppish English baronet who hides a second life as the daring leader of a band of gentlemen who rescue people from the guillotine in Revolutionary France.
Do I need to read The Scarlet Pimpernel first?
The book recalls earlier events, including Chauvelin's defeat at Calais, in enough detail that you can follow it on its own. It is a sequel, but the story and its characters are explained as they appear.
The author
Baroness Orczy
1865–1947 · Hungarian-born British novelist
Baroness Orczy (1865–1947) was a Hungarian-born British novelist and playwright. Born Emma Orczy in Tarnaörs, Hungary, she moved to London in 1880. She wrote The Scarlet Pimpernel, published in 1905, and detective stories, including The Old Man in the Corner and Lady Molly of Scotland Yard. She died in London.
More by Baronessa Orczy
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