Random Read: The Scarlet Pimpernel

As much as I love modern books, the classics make my heart sing. Today's post is about one of my favorite books, one that I'm surprised didn't make it on the BBC's big read, The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy.

I first fell in love with the Scarlet Pimpernel as a little girl, watching the old black and white movie with my mom. This love was reenforced as an adult watching the musical preformed by a small professional theater group. Today this love was cemented. As one of the characters exclaimed in the book, "We ladies think of him as a hero of old. ... We worship him...we wear his badge...we tremble for him when he is in danger, and exult with him in the hour of his victory." Such is my love for the Scarlet Pimpernel.

The book is as great as the man! As you may have surmised, the novel revolves around a man who uses the pseudonym "the Scarlet Pimpernel." While a scarlet pimpernel is a common English flower, the man is anything but ordinary. He risks his life to save the lives of French nobility during the French Revolution. All of France is trying to catch him and everyone in England worships him. No one save his trusted followers knows who he is.

"We seek him here, we seek him there,
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven?--Is he in hell?
That demmed, elusive Pimpernel?"
 (Sir Percy Blakeney)

The Scarlet Pimpernel is well woven with rich emotions and depth of character seen often in the classics and rarely in modern books. It made me laugh, it made me angry, it even made me cry and I rarely cry when I read books.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun classic. It will meet (or even exceed!) your expectations.