Friends

This is my review of the book Lord Tony's Wife by Baroness Orczy which I have listened to recently as a librivox recording, https://librivox.org/lord-tonys-wife-by-baroness-emmuska-orczy/ l whilst driving around. This story publish in 1917 is the continued story of the Scarlet Pimpernel series. It is a story full of suspense, double crossing and drama.

The story is in three parts firstly an initial tragedy that sets up the story, the second part is all about Yvonne and Lord Tony eloping. Then the year moves to 1793 and in Nantes, France, the hunting of aristocrats goes on. The Yvonnes father kidnaps her under false pretences. They think they are going to The Netherlands but end up going to France, where Chauvelin is waiting.

The final section is how Lord Tony persuades his friend The Scarlet Pimpernel to assist him in trying to free Yvonne and her father, from Chauvelin and Pierre Adet. Will Lord Tony ever even see his wife again?

This book is an exciting, romance of the French revolution. If I had read it rather than listened to it then I would have classified it as a page turner. Certainly it kept my attention whilst travelling up and down the motorway. All good fun.

I will record this as book 22 week 21 fiction 20 (audio books 4) non fiction 2

Friends

This is my review of the book The Elusive Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy, which I have listened to recently as a librivox recording  Over the last couple of weeks having spent quite a bit of time in the car it was good to have a good story to listen to. It certainly helps pass the time away. It was so good that as we got near to the end my average speed got less so we arrived home just as the last chapter was ending. Perfect timing. But I am getting ahead of myself.

This is book three of book four in the Scarlet Pimpernel series depending on which list one is going by.

It is September 1793 and French Agent and chief spy-catcher Chauvelin is determined to get his revenge for the previous humiliations dished out to him at the hands of the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Chauvelin travels to England as an official representative of the French government tasked with looking after the interests of French citizens, but this is only a cover and his real purpose is to trick Sir Percy Blakeney into returning to France, where he can be captured and put to the guillotine.

On the guise of a challenge to a duel Sir Percy is forced to travel to Bologune. Sir Percy's wife Marguerite is tricked into going to France to watch and help with the duel, but she is captured and put into prision. The whole town of Boulogne is held to ransom with the threat of death on the breadwinner making sure that she does not escape.

Chauvelin seems to have hatched the perfect plan to capture and humiliate Sir Percy and stop the exploits of the Scarlet Pimpernel. But all is not quite what it seems.

This was a really good story, as it painted the scene and built the tension slowly up bit by bit. On the face of it it did seem as if Chauvelin had got Sir Percy Trapped. We spent a good few miles discussing how the Scarlet Pimpernel was going to get out of this alive, which of course is one of the problems of doing a series. The star has to escape to live for another day.

This was a good book really well read by Karen Savage and a very enjoyable story. Probably listen to next in series when next driving. This was book 14 week 12 fiction 13 (audio books 3) non fiction 1

Friends

This is my review of the book I Will Repay by Baroness Orczy which I have listened to recently. The version I listened to was from librivox


It is part of the ongoing saga of Scarlet Pimpernel. (I believe book 3 in the series though there are differing opinions to this, whether the sequence is by date order written or by content order)  The story is in two main parts based around the main theme of a misguided promise made on a death bed to revenge a killing, and its consequences.

A duel of swords – tempers flair and this ends in death. A daughter is pledged to revenge this death.

Time passes to the tune of ten years, and the main star Juliette Marny draws attention to herself near the person she is sworn to see killed. To do this she denounces him to the revolutionary committee, in hopes that he will be lined up for execution.

Sadly of course she now falls in love for this person. To try and save him she burns some compromising papers but she is caught and it looks as if both will be executed together. Can the Scarlet Pimpernel save them??

A story that is good fun. It goes along at a reasonable pace just right for listening to in the car as travelling along. Keeping the driver awake. - We had been listening to a Dickens, which we gave up as it a little boring and did not seem to be going anywhere, which is not the case with this story.

A very enjoyable book, and I am looking forward to listening to more of the series, in the months to come.

This was book 12 week 10 fiction 11 (audio books 2) non fiction 1

Friends,

This is my review of the book The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel by Emma Orczy, which I listened to recently whilst travelling around as a librivox recording.

This is the second Scarlet Pimpernel book that I have listened to having enjoyed the first one so much. The book is a collection of short stories all about Sir Peter Blakeney, as the Scarlet Pimpernel and his friends – telling tales of how they rescue various Astrio's from the French citzerns court.

In most cases it involves some form of disguise, sometimes with a really bad cough. So as soon as someone mentions that a person has a really bad cough one knows that the Scarlet Pimpernel is on the case.

After a few of the stories they did become a little predictable, and it would have probably been better if they had been written as slightly longer stories, with fewer of them, as the characters did not really have time to develop.

That apart it was all good fun and whiled away around nine hours of travelling time. The strange thing was that some of the short stories were much longer than others, it made one speculate as to why this was. Was Emma Orczy but against a publishing target and had to get the book finished by a certain deadline.. Who knows

I will be listening to more of these stories as time progresses as there are several completed books in the Librivox catalogue about our hero The Scarlet Pimpernel.

This was book 29 week 23 fiction 26 (audio book 6) non fiction 3.

This is my review of the book “The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy” which I have listened to recently as a librivox dramatic reading https://librivox.org/the-scarlet-pimpernel-by-baroness-emmuska-orczy-2/ whilst travelling up and down the motorway.

It is a really engaging story, and whilst one I sort of knew the plot, having seen either film or TV versions before, I found I did not really know it.

This book is the first in the Scarlet Pimpernel series, where we get to meet all the main characters. Sir Percy a wealthy English baronet who rescues French individuals (Astros) sentenced to death by the guillotine. He soon reveals himself to be a master of disguise, an imaginative planner, a formidable swordsman and a quick-thinking escape artist. With each rescue he taunts his enemies by leaving behind a card showing a small flower—a scarlet pimpernel. To hide his true identity, Sir Percy presents himself in everyday life as a dim-witted, foppish playboy. His secret is kept by a band of friends known as the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel.

But poor Sir Percy Blakeney's wife is being blackmailed to reveal the Scarlet Pimpernel. In exchange for her brothers life. Little does she know that in doing so she is putting her husband at risk as he is the famous Scarlet Pimpernel.

Only once she has given the game away not realising at the time that she is condemning her husband, does she realise what she has done. There then follows a chase across England to Dover and then over the Channel to rescue Sir Percy from the French.

A great story full of suspense, detail and atmosphere, especially the descriptions of the innkeeper and their inn in France. A very enjoyable book, so much so that we are now listening to the next one in the series. But as it is nearly 9 hours long it will be a few weeks before it gets reviewed here.

So this was book 24 week 18 fiction 21 (audio book 5) non fiction 3.