The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emma Orczy; narrated by Bill Homewood | 2019; originally published 1905 | Naxos Audio | Audiobook $ 18.30
With the Reign of Terror at its peak, and the death toll mounting, France’s violent revolutionists suddenly find themselves frustrated by a mysterious vigilante. Known as the Scarlet Pimpernel, the enigmatic hero rescues the country’s ill-fated aristocrats from the doom of the guillotine and whisks them away to safety, with a band of gallant cohorts at his aid. Meanwhile, in England, beautiful Frenchwoman and former actress Lady Marguerite Blakeney finds herself drifting apart from her inane and foppish husband Sir Percy Blakeney — until Marguerite’s brother is found to be in league with the Pimpernel and the villainous Chauvelin blackmails her into discovering the true identity of the masked man. . . .
I originally added this title to my classic lit to-read list because — and I’m realizing now while writing it that this sounds silly, but — I missed out on reading it in school. I took advanced language + lit classes in high school, which had totally different reading lists from the normal classes. While some of my friends were reading and raving about The Scarlet Pimpernel, I was struggling through… I don’t even remember now, probably something like A Tale of Two Cities. That FOMO for this book has stuck with me all these years; it was time to do something about it!
I’d just finished listening to The Mark of Zorro just before starting The Scarlet Pimpernel; I wasn’t really paying attention when lining up my audiobook queue, but these are actually incredibly similar stories. Honestly, I think it’s possible that the author of the former was basically writing an alt universe fanfic version of the latter. This is absolutely not a complaint! I enjoyed both books, even back-to-back (though to be entirely honest, I overall preferred the story of Zorro).
I was pleased to discover that the narrator of my chosen audio version of The Mask of Zorro, Bill Homewood, was also the narrator for this book. He has a delightfully growly voice and an absolutely perfect cadence + tone for these sorts of classic adventure stories. I can’t imagine listening to this story told in any other way.
Here’s another solid choice for anyone looking for just a good, old-fashioned adventure + romance book. And, if you choose to listen to it on audio, I really recommend trying to find this particular version narrated by Bill Homewood.
Links:
- Public domain book available at Project Gutenberg
- Audiobook review from AudioFile Magazine
- “Beat it Batman – This Foppish Baronet Was the World’s First Superhero” article from The Guardian
Publication information: Orczy, Emma. The scarlet pimpernel. London, UK: Naxos Audio, 2019. Audiobook.
Source: Public library, via Hoopla.
Disclaimer: I am not compensated, monetarily or otherwise, for reviews of books or other products.
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