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I don't review books I don't like!

*****= An all-time favorite
****  = Outstanding
***    = Above average
**      = Enjoyable
*        = Good, with reservations

***The Laughing Cavalier

The Story of the Ancestor of the Scarlet Pimpernel

by Baroness Orczy

Reviewed January 31, 2002.
Hodder and Stoughton, 284 pages.  (No date listed:  Early 1900s?)

My friend Leah found this book in a used book store in England.  I will say that Baroness Orczy was hugely prolific, and any time you’re in a used book store, it’s worth looking for her books.  I have found four different Scarlet Pimpernel books in used book stores myself, and Amazon.com also has some print-on-demand books of hers for sale.  I believe the copyright has expired, so a company is printing them out and selling them.  I got a few more that way.

For background, the Scarlet Pimpernel is a dashing English gentleman who rescues noblemen from the French Revolution in daringly clever ways.  I reviewed the original book before as an Old Favorite.  This book, The Laughing Cavalier, was about a supposed ancestor of the Scarlet Pimpernel.  It is set in Holland in the 1600s.  The Laughing Cavalier goes by the name Diogenes.  He is an adventurer embroiled in a plot to assassinate a ruler.  A lovely maiden in distress is also involved.  As in the Scarlet Pimpernel books, things reach a state where you can’t imagine how he will escape.  Also like those books, there is an intricate plot with clever twists.  Yes, it’s very old-fashioned, but also a great deal of fun.  If you can find these books, they are well worth reading.

Thanks for the loan, Leah!

Copyright © 2003 Sondra Eklund.  All rights reserved.


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