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avaantares · 1 year

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@the-old-fashioned-girl:

Since you mentioned some of the sequels are better than the original, which ones do you recommend?? (I've only read the og novel)

(in reference to this post)

There are several great titles in the series, but I'll limit myself (or else we'll be here all week, LOL).

Eldorado is the sequel most SP fans are familiar with, as it provided the expanded plot for several adaptations, including the 1982 miniseries starring Anthony Andrews, Jane Seymour and Ian McKellen, as well as the Takarazuka version of the Frank Wildhorn stage musical (this story differs substantially from the Broadway version). In this book, the Scarlet Pimpernel embarks on a mission to rescue the imprisoned Dauphin, but faces betrayal from within the League. It features high stakes, Marguerite in an active role, and even some rare moments of hurt/comfort for the whump fans. IMO, this is the best of the sequels from a story standpoint.

Sir Percy Hits Back is another one I have a fondness for, as it's the book that delves into Chauvelin's private life (he actually has one!). Like several of the books, it spends more time focusing on the victims who need rescuing than it does on the Scarlet Pimpernel himself, but it does feature a few priceless moments of trademark Percy sass. The story isn't quite as strong here, but I enjoy the payoff, and it's nice to see the villain stop twirling his metaphorical moustache and be humanized for a bit.

If you're here for the adventure more than the romance, the short story collections (League of and Adventures of) also have a lot to offer; they tend to focus on individual rescue operations, so there are more disguises and League shenanigans than swooning and pining.

For easy reference, I've listed all the books in the series below in publication order. Note that this is not chronological order in terms of the story content, as the definitive "final" book in the series was followed in publication by other titles that take place before that story's events. (I won't spoil anything by saying which one it is, though!)

Boldface denotes novels; non-bolded text denotes short story collections, etc.

Asterisk (*) denotes a story that is related tangentially to the series, but does not feature the main cast (usually about SP's ancestors/descendants)

Pound (#) denotes "nonfiction" material (obviously still fiction, but presented as essays or biographical information rather than a story)

The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905) I Will Repay (1906) The Elusive Pimpernel (1908) Eldorado (1913) The Laughing Cavalier * (1914) Lord Tony's Wife (1917) The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1919) The First Sir Percy * (1920) The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1922) Pimpernel and Rosemary * (1924) Sir Percy Hits Back (1927) The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1929) The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1933) Child of the Revolution * (1933) The Scarlet Pimpernel Looks at the World # (1933) A Gay Adventurer, or The Life and Exploits of the Scarlet Pimpernel # (1935) Sir Percy Leads the Band (1936) Mam'zelle Guillotine (1940)

#the scarlet pimpernel #baroness orczy #book recs

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bracketsoffear · 1 month

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The Scarlet Pimpernel (Baroness Orczy) "They seek him here, they seek him there / Those Frenchies seek him everywhere / Is he in heaven, or is he in hell?/ That damned, elusive, pimpernel."

Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle) "As per this post: "I know he's already been in the Eye Poll, but trust me, he's [Sherlock] such a Hunt guy. All of his observational skills aren't Eye (he'd probably think that was cheating), but the result of a finely trained mind and keen, Hunt-enhanced senses. He's relentless in his pursuit of criminals, trekking for miles through city and country alike to track down a suspect. He gets bored and listless without the thrill of the chase, as Watson has so often remarked, as though something was sapping his energy. Feed your god, or it will feed on you."

#hunt poll #the hunt #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #The Scarlet Pimpernel #Baroness Orczy #Sherlock Holmes #Arthur Conan Doyle

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jotun-philosopher · 3 months

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Good Omens/The Scarlet Pimpernel parallels (and what they might mean for s3)

We seek him here, we seek him there Those Frenchies seek him everywhere Is he in Heaven? Is he in Hell? That demmed elusive Pimpernel!

Some time back, Neil Gaiman answered an ask about Good Omens/Scarlet Pimpernel parallels in the French Revolution scene in s1e3 and whether they were intentional -- I can't find the post itself because tumblr's search function is stupidly broken (I'm starting to think I might have hallucinated it...), but I clearly recall that the reply was, "If anyone in Good Omens parallels Sir Percy Blakeney, it's Aziraphale." (or words to that effect)

Now, Neil Gaiman is an absolute master at answering questions in a way that seems all fine at first, but then you realise he hasn't really answered the question at all, in a way that forces you to think about the subject for yourself -- and the reply to which I allude above is a classic of the genre! It certainly got me very curious about the original novel (my only prior encounter with the story having been a production of the musical at the Minack in 2007), and once I got to read it for myself, the ideas they were a-flowin' ^_^ I have Thoughts about how all this might play into Season 3...

Spoilers for The Scarlet Pimpernel below the cut -- the novel might be over 100 years old, but that doesn't mean I can assume that everyone's going to be familiar with it (read it for free at Project Gutenberg here, and become one of today's lucky 10,000!). Also be aware of some minor spoilers for the Sandman arc 'The Kindly Ones'.

To start with, if we take at face value Neil's assertion that Aziraphale parallels Sir Percy Blakeney (who, like Azzy, conceals a deep well of steely badassery and daring ingenuity under outward foppishness -- though with Sir Percy it's much more of a studied and deliberate facade), then it seems fairly reasonable to assume that Crowley roughly parallels Marguerite Blakeney (nee St-Just) and the Metatrash (may he tread on Lego and d4s for all eternity) parallels that accredited agent of the Revolutionary government, Monsieur Shovellin' Chauvelin.

As a recap, the basic plot of The Scarlet Pimpernel runs thus:

The French Revolution is a-raging and many sacres aristos are having fatal meetings with Madame Guillotine, but many more are being rescued in daring and inexplicable ways by a mysterious individual whose calling-card is the image of a small red flower -- a scarlet pimpernel; meanwhile, to the general bewilderment of High Society, Marguerite St-Just (widely considered the most intelligent woman in Europe) has married the notoriously brainless fop Sir Percy Blakeney.

There is a certain degree of coldness and emotional estrangement between them, because Marguerite was tangentially involved in getting the Marquis de Saint-Cyr and his family guillotined (though the circumstances are very complex and she didn't actually mean for Saint-Cyr to die). Percy and Marguerite do still love each other, but ferocious stiff-necked pride on both sides prevents them from actually talking things out.

Chaubertin Chauvelin, suspecting that his bête noir, the Scarlet Pimpernel, is part of English high society, blackmails Marguerite into finding information on that mysterious Pimpernel for him by threatening her beloved brother's safety.

Marguerite caves and does so, but instantly regrets it. She regrets it even harder when she finally connects the dots that her foppish, foolish husband is the daring and ingenious Pimpernel.

Sir Percy having personally gone to France to rescue the Comte de Tournay, Marguerite makes a mad dash to warn her beloved husband that Shoehorn Chauvelin has rumbled him.

Without spoiling the entire ending of the novel: there is rescuing, communication, relinquishment of pride, professions of love, Chamberpot Chauvelin being so distracted by Marguerite at a crucial moment that Sir Percy is able to pull his master-stroke, with Chauvelin being defeated and (though it happens off-page) humiliated!

Looking at this summary, it seems to map eerily well onto the Final Fifteen, with the pride and blackmail and mutually less-than-perfect communication! That said, I'm personally getting the vibe that Aziraphale and Crowley are trading roles there somewhat, with Azzy being more Marguerite and Crowley being more of a Sir Percy-type. Also, Crowley is already well aware that his angel is very much the 'daring and ingenious badass' type when it comes to it :D

But what does it all mean for S3? Going from what I've said so far, my best guess is this: Aziraphale (Sir Percy) is carrying out his daring schemes of subversion against Heaven (France) and the Second Coming (the Revolution), while Crowley (Marguerite) is (at least initially) very down-in-the-dumps about their estrangement and the Metatron (Chauvelin) is keeping up pressure on Azzy to be meek and complaint by threatening Crowley. Crowley (once he gets past the initial gloom) starts making plans of his own, in close temporal proximity to his joining the dots about Aziraphale's plans. Aziraphale likewise manages to put two and two together regarding what his wily ol' serpent is up to, but one of them accidentally tips off the Metatron and co., realises it and desperately tries to warn/rescue the other (trading off or simultaneously filling both Sir Percy and Marguerite roles, per previous paragraph). This very desperation acts as a spanner in the works for Metatron and his plans for the Second Coming, drawing his focus to one of the Ineffable Husbands at a critical moment and allowing the other to complete their world/true-love-saving plans. The threat conclusively defeated, the Ineffables FINALLY FRICKIN' TALK THINGS OUT, have the proper wedding that they deserve and retire to that South Downs cottage to live happily ever after <3

Bonus points if another key factor in the Metatron's downfall is his underlings, like Chauvelin's, having been terrified into obeying orders to the letter rather than thinking independently or showing initiative! Given what we've seen of Heaven and its authoritarian abusiveness so far, this is a very distinct possibility...

One incident in Scarlet Pimpernel that is sadly unlikely to have a direct parallel in S3 is the glorious scene where Sir Percy exploits Chauvelin's (by this point well-established) snuff habit to pull off what is quite possibly the most badass pepper-sneeze prank ever put to paper. It is very possible, though, that something like it will happen as payoff for the Nazi Zombie Flesh-Eaters minisode establishing that Aziraphale can pull off sleight-of-hand PERFECTLY when it really counts :D

Thank you for reading this far! At this point, I'd like to take a wild left turn and have a little jaunt into increasingly wild extrapolation/rambling, starting with the subject of floriography, or the language of flowers. This was a craze that exploded in popularity in England during the 19th Century, assigning all sorts of meanings to all sorts of plants. The real-life pimpernel flower was assigned the meaning of 'change' or 'rendezvous/appointment/assignation' -- very appropriate for the Ineffable Husbands, since so much of their relationship has been conducted through clandestine appointments and they've both been through much change (both internal and external), with yet more change in their futures. I would say it'd be cool to see actual pimpernel flowers among the floral arrangements for the Ineffable Wedding, but I just checked the Wikipedia article and it turns out that pimpernels are interestingly poisonous... I doubt Baroness Orczy thought about that when picking floral symbolism XD

The pimpernel flower being associated with 'change' also reminds me of something Neil Gaiman said about Sandman, that the plot can be summed up as 'The King of Dreams must change or die, and he makes his choice.' At the climax of the penultimate arc of the comic, 'The Kindly Ones', Morpheus (who's been the central character of the whole comic thus far) finds himself unable to change to the degree he needs to, so he chooses to die so that another aspect of Dream of the Endless can come forth. I get the feeling that Good Omens might be in some way exploring the other branch of that choice, seeing what it might mean to opt for change rather than death. Or maybe the same 'death over change' branch as well, since it's so clear that the toxic messes of Heaven and Hell and the whole fucked-up system are too deeply entrenched for anything else?

Of course, none of this excludes or is incompatible with the Jane Austen parallels (particularly with Persuasion, as documented by other meta writers) that came up in s2 -- though to be honest, the very fact that they did appear in s2 means they're more likely to appear in s3, or at least more likely to be obvious/overt. That said, none of us can know the Mind of Gaiman, so we must perforce follow the Eleventh Commandment -- Wait And See!

It kinda feels like we're in the position of Job here (keep the faith and get back double what we lost), except with a MUCH more benevolent deity in charge of the whole shebang...

#good omens #good omens meta #speculation #fan theory #fan thoughts #the scarlet pimpernel #baroness orczy #parallels #aziraphale #crowley #ineffable husbands #the fucking metatron #fuck the metatron #sideways with a cactus

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fictionturnedherbrain · 1 year

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Thought I would make use of my copy of Sally Dugan's study of The Scarlet Pimpernel (2012) and throw out some possible reasons why Marguerite was eclipsed by Sir Percy as the hero of the Scarlet Pimpernel sequels and film adaptations.

Public response to the play and the first novel: Marguerite was clearly the star of the story for Orczy, whether the character was an author insert or a 'fantasy representation'. In the first edition of the novel, the Baroness gave thanks to actress Julia Neilson , 'whose genius created the heroine of my story on stage'. A later edition credited both Neilson and her husband Fred Terry, who owned the rights to the play. Did Terry's performance as Sir Percy make Orczy realise that there was more fictional mileage in the eponymous Pimpernel?

Nationalism: Orczy identified with Marguerite, but Sir Percy is the quintessential English hero. Did the author want to prove her own loyalty to her husband's country by promoting her strong, brave and noble national hero over his rather more complex French wife? Dugan adds that 'this was compounded by pressures - particularly strong during wartime - to identify Englishness with masculinity.' Marguerite is demoted from an active and intelligent political thinker, who unwittingly betrays her new husband and country in favour of her brother and former Parisian associates, to a submissive wife and 'angel in the house' in the few sequels where she appears at all. She is a member of her husband's League but her role is reduced to fretting at home, either at Richmond or Dover, or accompanying Percy to France only to nursemaid the women and children he rescues. She has a stronger presence in Eldorado, which the 1982 adaptation was quick to utilise, but the loss of Marguerite's drive and independence in the first novel is a poor compromise for her reunion and happy ever after with Percy.

Was Orczy forced to favour Percy over Marguerite, to appease her publishers and satisfy her readers? Did she resent or accept the change? I would have loved to read about Marguerite taking a more active role in the League, instead of sitting at home with dark circles under her eyes or falling for Chauvelin's tricks again and again, and I can't imagine that the author who created such a vibrant but impulsive woman in The Scarlet Pimpernel just shrugged her shoulders and gave in, however much she also loved 'six foot odd of gorgeousness'!

(The illustration is 100% not mine, possibly by Julia Braid)

#the scarlet pimpernel #baroness orczy #marguerite st just #sir percy blakeney #sally dugan

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deadlynightshadeunderthestars · 6 months

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okay but I need a Scarlet Pimpernel- SGE Au thingy

#sge #the scarlet pimpernel #rotsge #fotsge #school for good and evil #fall of the school for good and evil #rise of the school for good and evil #tsp #the scarlet pimpernel book #the scarlet pimpernel musical #el dorado #baroness orczy #soman chainani

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ohifonlyx33 · 1 year

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Chapter 16 of The Scarlet Pimpernel had me nearly swooning in a public laundromat. Alas, the plot twist is spoilt for me, but nevertheless... it's all so delicious. The yearning is impeccable. The dynamic being captured is magnificence itself. The little details are delightful. An absolutely captivating moment.

“Sir Percy!”

He already had one foot on the lowest of the terrace steps, but at her voice he started, and paused, then looked searchingly into the shadows whence she had called to him.

She came forward quickly into the moonlight, and, as soon as he saw her, he said, with that air of consummate gallantry he always wore when speaking to her,—

“At your service, Madame!”

But his foot was still on the step, and in his whole attitude there was a remote suggestion, distinctly visible to her, that he wished to go, and had no desire for a midnight interview.

“The air is deliciously cool,” she said, “the moonlight peaceful and poetic, and the garden inviting. Will you not stay in it awhile; the hour is not yet late, or is my company so distasteful to you, that you are in a hurry to rid yourself of it?”

“Nay, Madame,” he rejoined placidly, “but ’tis on the other foot the shoe happens to be, and I’ll warrant you’ll find the midnight air more poetic without my company: no doubt the sooner I remove the obstruction the better your ladyship will like it.”

He turned once more to go.

“I protest you mistake me, Sir Percy,” she said hurriedly, and drawing a little closer to him; “the estrangement, which, alas! has arisen between us, was none of my making, remember.”

“Begad! you must pardon me there, Madame!” he protested coldly, “my memory was always of the shortest.”

------

Once again he attempted to go, once more her voice, sweet, childlike, almost tender, called him back.

“Sir Percy.”

“Your servant, Madame.”

“Is it possible that love can die?” she said with sudden, unreasoning vehemence. “Methought that the passion which you once felt for me would outlast the span of human life. Is there nothing left of that love, Percy . . . which might help you . . . to bridge over that sad estrangement?”

His massive figure seemed, while she spoke thus to him, to stiffen still more, the strong mouth hardened, a look of relentless obstinacy crept into the habitually lazy blue eyes.

------

“Percy! I entreat you!” she whispered, “can we not bury the past?”

“Pardon me, Madame, but I understood you to say that your desire was to dwell in it.”

“Nay! I spoke not of that past, Percy!” she said, while a tone of tenderness crept into her voice. “Rather did I speak of the time when you loved me still! and I . . . oh! I was vain and frivolous; your wealth and position allured me: I married you, hoping in my heart that your great love for me would beget in me a love for you . . . but, alas! . . .”

------

“Twenty-four hours after our marriage, Madame, the Marquis de St. Cyr and all his family perished on the guillotine, and the popular rumour reached me that it was the wife of Sir Percy Blakeney who helped to send them there.”

“Nay! I myself told you the truth of that odious tale.”

“Not till after it had been recounted to me by strangers, with all its horrible details.”

“And you believed them then and there,” she said with great vehemence, “without a proof or question—you believed that I, whom you vowed you loved more than life, whom you professed you worshipped, that I could do a thing so base as these strangers chose to recount. You thought I meant to deceive you about it all—that I ought to have spoken before I married you: yet, had you listened, I would have told you that up to the very morning on which St. Cyr went to the guillotine, I was straining every nerve, using every influence I possessed, to save him and his family. But my pride sealed my lips, when your love seemed to perish, as if under the knife of that same guillotine. Yet I would have told you how I was duped! Aye! I, whom that same popular rumour had endowed with the sharpest wits in France! I was tricked into doing this thing, by men who knew how to play upon my love for an only brother, and my desire for revenge. Was it unnatural?”

------

Marguerite Blakeney was, above all, a woman, with all a woman’s fascinating foibles, all a woman’s most lovable sins. She knew in a moment that for the past few months she had been mistaken: that this man who stood here before her, cold as a statue, when her musical voice struck upon his ear, loved her, as he had loved her a year ago: that his passion might have been dormant, but that it was there, as strong, as intense, as overwhelming, as when first her lips met his in one long, maddening kiss.

Pride had kept him from her, and, woman-like, she meant to win back that conquest which had been hers before. Suddenly it seemed to her that the only happiness life could ever hold for her again would be in feeling that man’s kiss once more upon her lips.

------

“And to probe that love, you demanded that I should forfeit mine honour,” he said, whilst gradually his impassiveness seemed to leave him, his rigidity to relax; “that I should accept without murmur or question, as a dumb and submissive slave, every action of my mistress. My heart overflowing with love and passion, I asked for no explanation—I waited for one, not doubting—only hoping. Had you spoken but one word, from you I would have accepted any explanation and believed it. But you left me without a word, beyond a bald confession of the actual horrible facts; proudly you returned to your brother’s house, and left me alone . . . for weeks . . . not knowing, now, in whom to believe, since the shrine, which contained my one illusion, lay shattered to earth at my feet.”

She need not complain now that he was cold and impassive; his very voice shook with an intensity of passion, which he was making superhuman efforts to keep in check.

“Aye! the madness of my pride!” she said sadly. “Hardly had I gone, already I had repented. But when I returned, I found you, oh, so altered! wearing already that mask of somnolent indifference which you have never laid aside until . . . until now.”

She was so close to him that her soft, loose hair was wafted against his cheek; her eyes, glowing with tears, maddened him, the music in her voice sent fire through his veins. But he would not yield to the magic charm of this woman whom he had so deeply loved, and at whose hands his pride had suffered so bitterly. He closed his eyes to shut out the dainty vision of that sweet face, of that snow-white neck and graceful figure, round which the faint rosy light of dawn was just beginning to hover playfully.

“Nay, Madame, it is no mask,” he said icily; “I swore to you . . . once, that my life was yours. For months now it has been your plaything . . . it has served its purpose.”

But now she knew that that very coldness was a mask. The trouble, the sorrow she had gone through last night, suddenly came back to her mind, but no longer with bitterness, rather with a feeling that this man who loved her, would help her to bear the burden.

------

Tears now refused to be held back. All her trouble, her struggles, the awful uncertainty of Armand’s fate overwhelmed her. She tottered, ready to fall, and leaning against the stone balustrade, she buried her face in her hands and sobbed bitterly.

At first mention of Armand St. Just’s name and of the peril in which he stood, Sir Percy’s face had become a shade more pale; and the look of determination and obstinacy appeared more marked than ever between his eyes. However, he said nothing for the moment, but watched her, as her delicate frame was shaken with sobs, watched her until unconsciously his face softened, and what looked almost like tears seemed to glisten in his eyes.

“And so,” he said with bitter sarcasm, “the murderous dog of the revolution is turning upon the very hands that fed it? . . . Begad, Madame,” he added very gently, as Marguerite continued to sob hysterically, “will you dry your tears? . . . I never could bear to see a pretty woman cry, and I . . .”

Instinctively, with sudden, overmastering passion, at sight of her helplessness and of her grief, he stretched out his arms, and the next, would have seized her and held her to him, protected from every evil with his very life, his very heart’s blood. . . . But pride had the better of it in this struggle once again; he restrained himself with a tremendous effort of will, and said coldly, though still very gently,—

“Will you not turn to me, Madame, and tell me in what way I may have the honour to serve you?”

She made a violent effort to control herself, and turning her tear-stained face to him, she once more held out her hand, which he kissed with the same punctilious gallantry; but Marguerite’s fingers, this time, lingered in his hand for a second or two longer than was absolutely necessary, and this was because she had felt that his hand trembled perceptibly and was burning hot, whilst his lips felt as cold as marble.

------

Perhaps he divined what was passing in her mind. His whole attitude was one of intense longing—a veritable prayer for that confidence, which her foolish pride withheld from him. When she remained silent he sighed, and said with marked coldness—

“Faith, Madame, since it distresses you, we will not speak of it. . . . As for Armand, I pray you have no fear. I pledge you my word that he shall be safe. Now, have I your permission to go? The hour is getting late, and . . .”

“You will at least accept my gratitude?” she said, as she drew quite close to him, and speaking with real tenderness.

With a quick, almost involuntary effort he would have taken her then in his arms, for her eyes were swimming in tears, which he longed to kiss away; but she had lured him once, just like this, then cast him aside like an ill-fitting glove. He thought this was but a mood, a caprice, and he was too proud to lend himself to it once again.

“It is too soon, Madame!” he said quietly; “I have done nothing as yet. The hour is late, and you must be fatigued. Your women will be waiting for you upstairs.”

------

Hot tears again surged to her eyes, and as she would not let him see them, she turned quickly within, and ran as fast as she could up to her own rooms.

Had she but turned back then, and looked out once more on to the rose-lit garden, she would have seen that which would have made her own sufferings seem but light and easy to bear—a strong man, overwhelmed with his own passion and his own despair. Pride had given way at last, obstinacy was gone: the will was powerless. He was but a man madly, blindly, passionately in love, and as soon as her light footsteps had died away within the house, he knelt down upon the terrace steps, and in the very madness of his love he kissed one by one the places where her small foot had trodden, and the stone balustrade there, where her tiny hand had rested last.

#the scarlet pimpernel #baroness orczy #sir percy blakeney

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weirdlotiel · 10 months

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So I’m reading the book and there are two idiots in love.

But it’s actually only one idiot. Who’s technically is considered intelligent.

And the second idiot is portrayed as and idiot, but it’s only a disguise.

Friends and enemies, please meet Marguerite Blakeney and sir Percy.

#books #literature #the scarlet pimpernel #sir percy blakeney #lady marguerite blakeney #baroness orczy #i love this book #red flowers

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pimpernelthescarlet · 3 months

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“Devil-may-care arrogance” is one of the best character descriptions I’ve ever heard.

#baroness orczy #the scarlet pimpernel #the scarlet pimpernel series

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cool-frog-hours · 1 year

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me 🤝 my sibling 🤝 making niche memes about one (1) movie from 1982

Credit to @thepageofheart for the second image 😎

[image ID: two images, the first a digital sketch of a meme format, the second a collage/meme. Both show characters from the scarlet pimpernel 1982 movie. The sketch is of Citizen Chauvelin saying “you should be addicted to shutting the fuck up” and Sir Percy Blakeney/The Scarlet Pimpernel responding “you want to fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid.” The second image depicts Armand St. Just asking Chauvelin “why does sir percy call you babygirl?” and Chauvelin responding “how about we stop talking for a little while.” End ID]

#the scarlet pimpernel #twin time #sir percy blakeney #citizen chauvelin #chauvelin #the scarlet pimpernel 1982 #ian mckellen #anthony andrews #baroness orczy #frogs art

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mstornadox · 1 year

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TIL that The Scarlet Pimpernel is a series!!!

I read the (first) book in college without realizing there were more books by Baroness Orczy. Instead I next read Scaramouche, as recommended by a friend.

I will download them as Standard Ebooks.

Now the quesions is: Do I read them before or after reading the upcoming Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman?

Side note: The Scarlet Pimpernel film with Leslie Howard and Merle Oberon is one of those movies that I cannot NOT watch when i come across it.

#scarlet pimpernel #baroness orczy #scarlet #genevieve cogman #standard ebooks #are the best free ebooks #the scarlet pimpernel

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bubblesandpages · 1 year

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Little rundown of what I’m reading because I’ve been trying to stave off a reading slump for the past sixish months And It Is Not Working. If I was a reasonable person I’d probably let it come on and hang out for a while, but there are seven different titles I need to get through by the end of the month (preferably before than so I can enter The Slump freely) so I’m talking about them here, and maybe it’ll shake things up enough for me to continue reading.

Firstly! Volumes 6-10 of Witch Hat Atelier—I’m choosing to think of these as one of the seven entries since it’s manga, and much easier to breeze through. It is good! Very good even in certain volumes. Richeh‘s my favorite, and Qifrey’s feeding my obsession with mentor characters that do slightly more than you’re run-of-the-mill mentoring.

Secondly! The Scarlett Pimpernel! Whisperings of it’s role as the inspiration for the Bat himself reached me, as well as murmurings of the stupid married couple at its core who are Mutual Pining personified and think Oh They Hate Me, ksjdfgybhdsgjyuhisbvgyhjsb. How could I not be intrigued! I’m about a third in, and it’s been fairly easy to read so far for being a classic.

Thirdly! Ninth House. Out of these first three I’m most interested in this one, I don’t normally dislike Bardugo’s writing style but this one’s really doing it for me. I love the voice she’s developed for this book, and she’s actually managed to make me interested in a university setting—usually I find them so painfully tame and boring. Not so here, I think a combination of her knowledge of the location, the charming map, specific way the characters relate to each location, Alex’s position as an outsider who’s not looking to crush others and rule the school and overall lack of pretentious Ivy Leagueness hates it hates it, and the way Yale feels more like a twisted stone warren that is made up of actual terror and wonder as opposed to other dark academia titles *cough* Babel *cough* is really doing it for me! Creeps me the hell out though!

Fourthly! Project Hail Mary. This one isn’t officially in the line up of seven, but I’m enjoying it too much to stop now. I’m not far enough in to have many thoughts, just know that Andy Weir still knows how to write a binge-worthy page-turner. It’s wacky, it’s weird, it’s smart, there’s a ✨Mystery✨ what’s not to love?

#really overused exclamation marks in this one #I get the feeling I'd be a lot more into school/dark academia settings if it wasn't for the homeschooling #like I grew up fundamentally believing that university's didn't gatekeep knowledge and that knowledge as a whole was a lot less #mysterious and archaic than the genre tends to characterize it as #or I could just be misreading the situation #¯\_(ツ)_/¯#I am feeling a lot better after dumping all that!#with update with the remaining seven as I get to them #reading #Fizzy talks #Ninth House #Leigh Bardugo #Witch Hat Atelier #Kamome Shirahama #The Scarlett Pimpernel #Baroness Orczy #Project Hail Mary #Andy Weir #books

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