{"id":45503,"date":"2026-07-31T21:32:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T01:32:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=45503"},"modified":"2026-07-31T21:32:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T01:32:57","slug":"review-of-the-scarlet-pimpernel-by-baroness-orczy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=45503","title":{"rendered":"Review of The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Orczy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a> The Scarlet Pimpernel<\/em><\/p>\n

by Baroness Orczy
\nread by Geoffrey Howard<\/p>\n

Blackstone Publishing, 2006. 8 hours, 20 minutes. Book originally written in 1905.
\nReview written July 14, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
\nStarred Review
\nOriginal review written October 24, 2001.<\/a>
\n2002 Sonderbooks Stand-out<\/a>: #4, Fiction Rereads<\/p>\n

As part of #Sonderbooks25<\/a>, my celebration of my 25th year of writing Sonderbooks, I’m rereading many of my old reviews – at least one from each year’s Sonderbooks Stand-outs<\/a>. I’ve also found that many of my favorites have an eaudiobook version with my current library – so I’m rediscovering a large number of them as audiobooks. In addition, when those books I’m rereading were reviewed in my first five years of writing Sonderbooks, I’m giving them a new review in the new phone-friendly format.<\/p>\n

First, let me say that I love this book. Romance! Adventure! Cleverness! Strategic rescues! Outwitting the bad guys! Clever misdirection! I first read the book in high school and ate it all up. I have lost track of how many times I’ve read the book, but let’s just say that not one word of the audiobook was a surprise. It’s a novel about a band of Englishmen and their daring leader who rescue aristocrats from the guillotine during the French Revolution.<\/p>\n

However, writing in 2025, I need to list a few caveats and warnings to other readers. The book was written in 1905. There are several issues.<\/p>\n

The biggest one is some frightful antisemitism. A Jewish character is portrayed as despised and contemptible, and pretty much deserving of that. I do have to say that any retelling I’ve ever read and the movies I’ve seen have taken that out. But it’s in the book and is not pretty.<\/p>\n

The author was a baroness, so it’s not really a surprise she has deep reverence for the nobility – and some veiled disrespect for the “lower classes.” English working-class are seen as maybe not so bright, but loyal and good-hearted, but French peasants are dirty and despicable for revolting against the nobility. <\/p>\n

As for women – well, many things are said about the power of a beautiful woman. But such a woman is frail and delicate, and that power is about her beauty and wit. Yes, our heroine in this book takes action after she unwittingly causes danger to someone she loves – but she can only do so by enlisting the help of men.<\/p>\n

At this point, let me note that both retellings that I have enjoyed and reviewed did a gender swap to give a woman the swashbuckling, adventurous role of the Scarlet Pimpernel: Across a Star-Swept Sea<\/a><\/em>, by Diana Peterfreund, and Rook<\/a><\/em>, by Sharon Cameron.<\/p>\n

Who is the Scarlet Pimpernel? He’s a master of disguise and a brilliant strategist for rescuing aristocrats from the guillotine. At the start of the book, we don’t know who he is, but we get to see a daring rescue executed before the book ends, with the odious French official utterly fooled.<\/p>\n

The writing is full of sentimentality, which I didn’t mind in high school, and have to admit I still don’t mind today. But it also brilliantly begins in the middle of the action, setting up the situation by starting the book with a scene of aristocrats being cleverly smuggled out of Paris. Then we meet the pertinent characters at an inn on the coast in Dover. Even the romance is shown to us in the middle of a misunderstanding that’s six months old. Baroness Orczy knew how to take us right into the middle of the action and shows us back story as it’s pertinent and interesting.<\/p>\n

There’s a reason this book has lasted 120 years.<\/p>\n

Now, at the time, Baroness Orczy wrote a multitude of sequels. I’ve reviewed several. I found four in a used bookstore one day – and then since their copyright has long passed, I found several more on Amazon print on demand. Most are not as good as the original, but they reliably give swashbuckling adventure and tender romance – and I should read some more before I’m done with #Sonderbooks25.<\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Fiction\/scarlet_pimpernel.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

Subscribe<\/a> for more reviews and talk about books.<\/p>\n

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy read by Geoffrey Howard Blackstone Publishing, 2006. 8 hours, 20 minutes. Book originally written in 1905. Review written July 14, 2025, from a library eaudiobook. Starred Review Original review written October 24, 2001. 2002 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #4, Fiction Rereads As part of #Sonderbooks25, my celebration of my 25th year […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,5,32,16,426,31,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-fiction-review","category-historical","category-old-favorites","category-sonderbooks25","category-stand-outs","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45503"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46772,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45503\/revisions\/46772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}