Since reading Baroness Orczy’s The Scarlet Pimpernel several years ago, I have been slowly working my way through the rest of the Pimpernel series. There are various recommended reading orders – some following publication dates and others attempting to follow an internal timeline – and I’m not sure if I’ve chosen the best route through the series, but The Elusive Pimpernel is the fifth book I’ve read. Like the others, this one revolves around the efforts of the English adventurer known as the Scarlet Pimpernel to rescue aristocrats from the guillotine during the French Revolution.
*If you have not read the first book and would prefer not to know the identity of the Scarlet Pimpernel, you may want to avoid the rest of this review as I can’t really discuss this book without naming him!*
First published in 1908, the novel begins in September 1793 with Citizen Chauvelin, the Scarlet Pimpernel’s arch-enemy, receiving orders from Robespierre in Paris. Having failed to capture the Pimpernel in the past, Chauvelin is being given one last chance. He must go to England as a representative of the Committee of Public Safety, responsible for the interests of French citizens who have settled in England. The real reason for his mission, however, is to hunt down the Scarlet Pimpernel and bring him back to France dead or alive.
As the action switches temporarily to England, we meet a French actress, Désirée Candeille, who has been befriended by Marguerite Blakeney, wife of Sir Percy, the Scarlet Pimpernel himself. Unknown to Marguerite, Désirée is in league with Chauvelin and part of the scheme to lure Sir Percy to France. Will their scheme be successful – and could Marguerite unintentionally be the one to lead her husband into the trap?
Although it’s not quite as good as the original book, The Elusive Pimpernel is probably the best of the sequels I’ve read so far. The plot Chauvelin comes up with to capture Sir Percy is so fiendishly clever I couldn’t see how he was going to find a way out of it. Of course, I knew that he probably would find a way out, because he’s the Scarlet Pimpernel, after all, and there are more books in the series, but it seemed to me that he was well and truly trapped this time! One of the things I like about these books is that Chauvelin is by no means portrayed as a bumbling idiot who is easily outwitted; his plan would almost certainly have succeeded against anybody less brilliant than Sir Percy.
We don’t see very much of the other members of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, although we are briefly reunited with some characters from the previous book, I Will Repay (so I would recommend reading that book before this one, if you can). Marguerite, though, plays a big part in the story and is one of our main viewpoint characters. It’s frustrating to see how easily she is manipulated, but she does mean well and her love for Percy isn’t in doubt, so I can forgive her!
Continuing chronologically, the next book for me to read will be Lord Tony’s Wife. Have you read that one – or any of the others in the series?
This is book 14/20 of my 20 Books of Summer 2024.
Book 31/50 for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2024
This is also book 44/50 from my second Classics Club list
She Reads Novels 
I used to love this series and borrowed all of the ones I could find at our school library!
They’re perfect when you just need something entertaining and not too taxing!
I’ve only read the first one but I do love Sir Percy! Especially when played by Anthony Andrews!
The first book is the best, but they are all fun. Yes, Anthony Andrews was perfect, although I do like Leslie Howard in that role as well.
I’ve read The Scarlet Pimpernel, but haven’t read any of the sequels. Good to know that this is one of the better ones.
Some of them have been much better than others!
I read all twelve years ago when I wrote a play for our school performance. Because I had a 70 strong cast, I picked and chose from the books to come up with a story that translated to the stage. I used a bit of Lord Tony’s wife, I couldn’t use the climactic scenes from the first book, instead picking up a different climax. We needed sword fights, dramatic escapes and so on. We had Chauvelin v Percy, Marguerite and Percy nearly breaking up, other couples with them, aristos, revolutionaries, a guillotine and Robespierre. I also borrowed from the film with Anthony Andrews. It was a mash-up and worked well.
But I loved reading the books! They were wonderful engaging stories.
That sounds fun. I haven’t seen a Scarlet Pimpernel-inspired stage performance, but I can see that the books would translate well to the stage, with plenty of action and drama. Well done for putting all of that together!
I loved The Scarlet Pimpernel when I read it as a child. I haven’t read any of the other books. This one sounds good.
Some of the others in the series weren’t very good, but this one and I Will Repay are both excellent.
For this series, I kind of felt like the first book did everything it needed to do. Do you feel the books are somewhat repetitive?
The first two sequels I read definitely felt repetitive and I was wondering whether to continue, but the next two have been a lot better.