By Lauren Willig
I have seen this book for years and have picked it up and put it back repeatedly but finally at the Borders blow out sale, I snatched it up for a few dollars. Coincidentally, my Aunt Greeney mentioned to me in passing that she was reading this. She enjoyed it and recommended it so I have been looking forward to this read.
This is a story within a story.
Starting out in modern day London, Eloise is doing her dissertation on English spies in Napoleonic France. She already knows the real identities of the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian but wants to unmask the Pink Carnation. One of the descendants of the Purple Gentian allows Eloise to read some old family documents. In these documents is the second story…
Half-French Amy Balcourt moved to England at age 6 with her English mother to escape the French Revolution leaving her father, eventually the victim of the guillotine, and her brother Edouard in France. She grows up with her mother’s family in the English countryside dreaming of becoming a spy who will avenge her father’s (and subsequently her mother's) death. Her more sensible cousin Jane is her partner in crime.
When she is 20, Amy’s brother sends for her to come to France. Taking Jane with her, she commences her plan to meet and join the league of the Purple Gentian. Soon she is embroiled in a mix of espionage and romance.
I highly enjoyed this book and it made me laugh out loud more than once. The dialect is not quite historically accurate but eh, I think it improved the tone of the story as it reminded me of a spoof on serious spy novels. I am very much looking forward to the next book in the series. It is already on my Christmas list.
PS Scarlet pimpernels and purple gentians are flowers. Who knew? Wikipedia did.
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