Baroness Emma Orczy

The Elusive Pimpernel Annotated Baroness Emma Orczy

First published in 1908, The Elusive Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy is the 4th book in the classic adventure series about the Scarlet Pimpernel. A French-language version, translated and adapted by Charlotte and Marie-Louise Destroys, was also produced under the title Nouveaux Exploits du Mourn Rouge.t is September 1793 and French Agent and chief spy-catcher Chauvinist is determined to get his revenge for the previous humiliations dished out to him at the hands of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Chauvinist 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 Blakeley into returning to France, where he can be captured and put to the guillotine. The plot is hatched at a gala on Richmond Green, with the help of a young French actress, Desiree Chandelle, whom Chauvelin has enlisted with promises of money, pardon and fame if she succeeds. With Marguerite in prison and the citizens of Boulogne threatened with death if she escapes, Chauvin appears to have an air-tight plan to secure and discredit Sir Percy that will end the meddling of the Scarlet Pimpernel for good... but as always Percy is more than a match for his arch-enemy.