The Scarlet Pimpernel

My grandmother had this novel on her bookshelf, which is why I read it the first time, but I’ve read it over and over. This is my favorite classic love story that is not really enemies to lovers, but still has lots of emotion and conflict.

I love it because of the conflict and for its educational value in teaching about the French Revolution.

This book was a huge influence on the development of my own series.

I love the combination of spy story, action adventure, and a couple with layers of deception between them. Percy and Marguerite are married but neither fully knows who the other is. And for all the swashbuckling adventure, that tension is at the heart of the story. 

I love the historical drama in this book. The characters are desperately in love but are unable to express it because they believe the worst of each other. Set in Paris and London during the reign of terror, Percy believes his wife is a murderous betrayer and Margaritte believes that Percy is nothing but a vacant fop. Neither is correct and the writing and romantic tension have made this book, play and various movies classic historical romance adventure stories since its writing.

I read this book when I was a teenager, picking it up from a shelf in the hall… show more.

This furnished the key motif of someone being saved from a revolutionary mob. It is also incredibly rich in the ‘local colour’ of the French Revolutionary period. Also one of the finest works of fiction to explore the theme of abduction. I had perhaps been led in this direction by Alexandre Dumas.