What do you think?
Rate this book
The Scarlet Pimpernel (chronological order) #10
The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel
It is Paris, 1794, and Robespierre’s revolution is inflicting its reign of terror. The elusive Scarlet Pimpernel is still at large - so far. But the sinister agent Chauvelin has taken prisoner his darling Marguerite. Will she act as a decoy and draw the Scarlet Pimpernel to the enemy? And will our dashing hero evade capture and live to enjoy a day ‘when tyranny was crushed and men dared to be men again’.
223 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1922
42 people are currently reading
1361 people want to read
About the author
Emmuska Orczy
857 books1,111 followersFull name: Emma ("Emmuska") Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Orczy de Orczi was a Hungarian-British novelist, best remembered as the author of THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL (1905). Baroness Orczy's sequels to the novel were less successful. She was also an artist, and her works were exhibited at the Royal Academy, London. Her first venture into fiction was with crime stories. Among her most popular characters was The Old Man in the Corner, who was featured in a series of twelve British movies from 1924, starring Rolf Leslie.
Baroness Emmuska Orczy was born in Tarnaörs, Hungary, as the only daughter of Baron Felix Orczy, a noted composer and conductor, and his wife Emma. Her father was a friend of such composers as Wagner, Liszt, and Gounod. Orczy moved with her parents from Budapest to Brussels and then to London, learning to speak English at the age of fifteen. She was educated in convent schools in Brussels and Paris. In London she studied at the West London School of Art. Orczy married in 1894 Montague Barstow, whom she had met while studying at the Heatherby School of Art. Together they started to produce book and magazine illustrations and published an edition of Hungarian folktales.
Orczy's first detective stories appeared in magazines. As a writer she became famous in 1903 with the stage version of the Scarlet Pimpernel.
Baroness Emmuska Orczy was born in Tarnaörs, Hungary, as the only daughter of Baron Felix Orczy, a noted composer and conductor, and his wife Emma. Her father was a friend of such composers as Wagner, Liszt, and Gounod. Orczy moved with her parents from Budapest to Brussels and then to London, learning to speak English at the age of fifteen. She was educated in convent schools in Brussels and Paris. In London she studied at the West London School of Art. Orczy married in 1894 Montague Barstow, whom she had met while studying at the Heatherby School of Art. Together they started to produce book and magazine illustrations and published an edition of Hungarian folktales.
Orczy's first detective stories appeared in magazines. As a writer she became famous in 1903 with the stage version of the Scarlet Pimpernel.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
January 4, 2024
5 stars. Wow, what a great ending to the Pimpernel series.
Haha. It’s not the ending. But it would be a great ending, imo.
Once again it had all the familiar elements that I love about the Pimpernel series. Mind you, the writing of the book is somewhat shallow. It’s a big bubble of good feelings, but no real depth or substance. Still, it’s a really enjoyable bit of fiction. :)
Back to the things I loved about the book… I don’t remember much about it because I just watched the 1937 RETURN OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL and can’t remember the plot of this book. But I remember I loved it. I remember that the whole plot line with Marguerite and how Percy comes after her is epic… and it’s a really cool storyline…
A better review than this questionable recommendation to come upon reread…
Content: language
Haha. It’s not the ending. But it would be a great ending, imo.
Once again it had all the familiar elements that I love about the Pimpernel series. Mind you, the writing of the book is somewhat shallow. It’s a big bubble of good feelings, but no real depth or substance. Still, it’s a really enjoyable bit of fiction. :)
Back to the things I loved about the book… I don’t remember much about it because I just watched the 1937 RETURN OF THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL and can’t remember the plot of this book. But I remember I loved it. I remember that the whole plot line with Marguerite and how Percy comes after her is epic… and it’s a really cool storyline…
A better review than this questionable recommendation to come upon reread…
Content: language
June 24, 2021
I made the proofing of this book for Free Literature and Project Gutenberg will publish it.
October 19, 2024
I don't normally listen to audiobooks (they are too slow a method of ingesting literature). However, this pair of cassettes were in danger of being disposed of as obsolete, so I thought I'd give them a listen first.
Hugh Laurie, for those of us who know him only as a comedian, turns out to be an excellent reader, and even manages to make Sir Percy's infamous affected dandy-speech sound more plausible than it ever does written down on the page -- or maybe that's just the choice of dialogue for the adaptation! After listening to an audio "Tale of Two Cities" a few years ago that chose to omit the entire episode of Doctor Manette's backstory, so that we never learn why he was in the Bastille in the first place or the reason why Madame Defarge hates the family so much, or get the intervention at Darnay's trial (it's actually a clever choice of abridgement that means you can shorten the plot a lot while retaining much of Dickens' characteristic rambling prose, and doesn't alter the overall action all *that* much...) I do find myself wondering how much of the book was left out in order to fit in into two audio cassettes.
There is pretty obviously a missing scene, for example, in which Theresia Cabarrus discovers that the note which annoyed her so much was planted by Chauvelin rather than being a genuine message from the Scarlet Pimpernel, and one can't help wondering what happened to Régine (since such care is taken to rescue Bertrand's dead body, presumably it was with the intention of returning it to her, or at least being able to inform her that he had been decently interred?) Unfortunately I can't lay hands on my copy of the original novel, although I know that I have read it and can see no reason why that volume would have become detached from the other Orczys in my possession.
The bit that one really remembers from this story, of course, is that Sir Percy goes to the lengths of getting himself branded (without, presumably, the merciful bottle of brandy stipulated by Chauvelin for Rateau!) in order to be able to continue passing as the coal-heaver's double, which is a brilliant short-term expedient but which always struck me as terribly risky in the long term: he has now provided his enemies with an infallible means of identifying him in the future. What I hadn't realised, since I was reading the books out of order as and when I was able to get hold of the ancient second-hand copies, was that this is apparently the final "Scarlet Pimpernel" story.
Which makes sense, since it has been set so as to encompass the fall of Robespierre and the very end of the Terror; it was just that, given the generic title and Chauvelin's prominent position in the Committee of Public Safety, I'd always assumed that this was a fairly early sequel! (It does explain Sir Percy's complete lack of surprise that Theresia apparently knows that the Scarlet Pimpernel and Sir Percy Blakeney are one and the same person, a secret that both he and Chauvelin had previously been keeping very quiet for very different reasons.)
I am still rather surprised, because I retain a distinct memory of reading a very atypical Scarlet Pimpernel story in which the League ends up being called upon to rescue the daughter of the Marquis de Chauvelin (as, like Lafayette, the ardent revolutionary is eventually revealed to have been) in her country obscurity, an agonising situation for the unfortunate Chauvelin which one would have thought would have altered the relationship between him and his nemesis to a degree that would at least be acknowledged later. This one feels very much business as usual -- but it's undoubtedly possible that the books, while existing as I remember them, were written out of chronological order, so that these events effectively had not 'happened' yet.
I do remember being very surprised to discover when reading about the French Revolution, years later, that Tallien, who features as a minor protagonist in this novel, was actually a real person; I certainly had no idea whatsoever that the Cabarrus, who plays a major and presumably (given the invented character of Percy Blakeney) entirely fictional role in the action, also really existed! In Orczy's day, authors were presumably as blasé as Shakespeare about employing real people in name only to take part in their plots... and, to be fair, I have seen modern authors writing steampunk with Ada Lovelace as action heroine, or turning Oscar Wilde into an crime-solving amateur sleuth.
If Chauvelin seriously expected her to be able to *seduce* Sir Percy to his doom, however, as she appears to believe to be within her powers, then he makes a serious and uncharacteristic miscalculation. I would guess that his suggestion that the ultimate downfall of the Scarlet Pimpernel will be at the hands of a woman more probably relies upon his enemy's fatal tendency towards chivalry where the fair sex are concerned; at any rate, while Sir Percy does take the precaution of dropping a word of warning in his wife's ear where Theresia is concerned, he refrains from unmasking her as an agent of the Republican government, and thus indirectly puts Marguerite in peril. On the other hand, Sir Percy shows an unhesitating lack of qualms in framing Theresia, woman or no woman, as his accomplice, thus endangering her life at the hands of the Revolution in order to bring down Robespierre himself.
I felt that she comes across rather oddly in this adaptation, but it's hard to know whether this is because we are missing out on intervening moments of context or whether the author really hasn't given her any motivation for her inconsistent attitudes towards the other characters.
Marguerite has some excuse for getting kidnapped in this one, as she finds herself betrayed not by the imposter Theresia but by someone she has absolutely no reason not to trust. Régine in particular, on the other hand, gets very much the short end of the straw -- we keep expecting Bertrand to come to his senses and return to his first love...
For Chauvelin I have had an undoubtedly unintended sympathy for a long time; he is in a terribly perilous personal position, walking a tightrope above the teeth of a Revolutionary tiger that has no pity for failure, he is up against a foe who, by authorial decree, will always be able to slip free at the last moment from any trap he can devise, and he is a physically small and slightly-built man who is borne up by his undoubted intellect, and who flinches above all at the prospect not of danger but of ridicule and humiliation. But as traps go, this one seems a bit lacking: he has had Marguerite Blakeney kidnapped (again), and he threatens her husband that if Sir Percy doesn't simply hand himself over, then she will be shot. Why then give him four days' grace in which to come up with a rescue scheme (as he inevitably does?) Why not insist that his enemy, once successfully induced to make his appearance, surrender himself on the spot if he wishes to exchange his life for that of Marguerite -- or, even better, arrange to have him executed right away? Presumably Chauvelin is committing the cardinal Evil Overlord sin of delaying in order to gloat, but one feels that past experience really should have taught him better.
I definitely recognised large chunks of this audiobook, and Hugh Laurie reads it admirably. However, overall as with most adaptations I'm left with a subsequent desire to revisit the original; one always tends to prefer the version first encountered. (It did take me years as a child to reconcile myself to the original version of "The Count of Monte-Cristo" rather than to the simplified plot of the dramatisation we had on a single LP!)
Hugh Laurie, for those of us who know him only as a comedian, turns out to be an excellent reader, and even manages to make Sir Percy's infamous affected dandy-speech sound more plausible than it ever does written down on the page -- or maybe that's just the choice of dialogue for the adaptation! After listening to an audio "Tale of Two Cities" a few years ago that chose to omit the entire episode of Doctor Manette's backstory, so that we never learn why he was in the Bastille in the first place or the reason why Madame Defarge hates the family so much, or get the intervention at Darnay's trial (it's actually a clever choice of abridgement that means you can shorten the plot a lot while retaining much of Dickens' characteristic rambling prose, and doesn't alter the overall action all *that* much...) I do find myself wondering how much of the book was left out in order to fit in into two audio cassettes.
There is pretty obviously a missing scene, for example, in which Theresia Cabarrus discovers that the note which annoyed her so much was planted by Chauvelin rather than being a genuine message from the Scarlet Pimpernel, and one can't help wondering what happened to Régine (since such care is taken to rescue Bertrand's dead body, presumably it was with the intention of returning it to her, or at least being able to inform her that he had been decently interred?) Unfortunately I can't lay hands on my copy of the original novel, although I know that I have read it and can see no reason why that volume would have become detached from the other Orczys in my possession.
The bit that one really remembers from this story, of course, is that Sir Percy goes to the lengths of getting himself branded (without, presumably, the merciful bottle of brandy stipulated by Chauvelin for Rateau!) in order to be able to continue passing as the coal-heaver's double, which is a brilliant short-term expedient but which always struck me as terribly risky in the long term: he has now provided his enemies with an infallible means of identifying him in the future. What I hadn't realised, since I was reading the books out of order as and when I was able to get hold of the ancient second-hand copies, was that this is apparently the final "Scarlet Pimpernel" story.
Which makes sense, since it has been set so as to encompass the fall of Robespierre and the very end of the Terror; it was just that, given the generic title and Chauvelin's prominent position in the Committee of Public Safety, I'd always assumed that this was a fairly early sequel! (It does explain Sir Percy's complete lack of surprise that Theresia apparently knows that the Scarlet Pimpernel and Sir Percy Blakeney are one and the same person, a secret that both he and Chauvelin had previously been keeping very quiet for very different reasons.)
I am still rather surprised, because I retain a distinct memory of reading a very atypical Scarlet Pimpernel story in which the League ends up being called upon to rescue the daughter of the Marquis de Chauvelin (as, like Lafayette, the ardent revolutionary is eventually revealed to have been) in her country obscurity, an agonising situation for the unfortunate Chauvelin which one would have thought would have altered the relationship between him and his nemesis to a degree that would at least be acknowledged later. This one feels very much business as usual -- but it's undoubtedly possible that the books, while existing as I remember them, were written out of chronological order, so that these events effectively had not 'happened' yet.
I do remember being very surprised to discover when reading about the French Revolution, years later, that Tallien, who features as a minor protagonist in this novel, was actually a real person; I certainly had no idea whatsoever that the Cabarrus, who plays a major and presumably (given the invented character of Percy Blakeney) entirely fictional role in the action, also really existed! In Orczy's day, authors were presumably as blasé as Shakespeare about employing real people in name only to take part in their plots... and, to be fair, I have seen modern authors writing steampunk with Ada Lovelace as action heroine, or turning Oscar Wilde into an crime-solving amateur sleuth.
If Chauvelin seriously expected her to be able to *seduce* Sir Percy to his doom, however, as she appears to believe to be within her powers, then he makes a serious and uncharacteristic miscalculation. I would guess that his suggestion that the ultimate downfall of the Scarlet Pimpernel will be at the hands of a woman more probably relies upon his enemy's fatal tendency towards chivalry where the fair sex are concerned; at any rate, while Sir Percy does take the precaution of dropping a word of warning in his wife's ear where Theresia is concerned, he refrains from unmasking her as an agent of the Republican government, and thus indirectly puts Marguerite in peril. On the other hand, Sir Percy shows an unhesitating lack of qualms in framing Theresia, woman or no woman, as his accomplice, thus endangering her life at the hands of the Revolution in order to bring down Robespierre himself.
I felt that she comes across rather oddly in this adaptation, but it's hard to know whether this is because we are missing out on intervening moments of context or whether the author really hasn't given her any motivation for her inconsistent attitudes towards the other characters.
Marguerite has some excuse for getting kidnapped in this one, as she finds herself betrayed not by the imposter Theresia but by someone she has absolutely no reason not to trust. Régine in particular, on the other hand, gets very much the short end of the straw -- we keep expecting Bertrand to come to his senses and return to his first love...
For Chauvelin I have had an undoubtedly unintended sympathy for a long time; he is in a terribly perilous personal position, walking a tightrope above the teeth of a Revolutionary tiger that has no pity for failure, he is up against a foe who, by authorial decree, will always be able to slip free at the last moment from any trap he can devise, and he is a physically small and slightly-built man who is borne up by his undoubted intellect, and who flinches above all at the prospect not of danger but of ridicule and humiliation. But as traps go, this one seems a bit lacking: he has had Marguerite Blakeney kidnapped (again), and he threatens her husband that if Sir Percy doesn't simply hand himself over, then she will be shot. Why then give him four days' grace in which to come up with a rescue scheme (as he inevitably does?) Why not insist that his enemy, once successfully induced to make his appearance, surrender himself on the spot if he wishes to exchange his life for that of Marguerite -- or, even better, arrange to have him executed right away? Presumably Chauvelin is committing the cardinal Evil Overlord sin of delaying in order to gloat, but one feels that past experience really should have taught him better.
I definitely recognised large chunks of this audiobook, and Hugh Laurie reads it admirably. However, overall as with most adaptations I'm left with a subsequent desire to revisit the original; one always tends to prefer the version first encountered. (It did take me years as a child to reconcile myself to the original version of "The Count of Monte-Cristo" rather than to the simplified plot of the dramatisation we had on a single LP!)
May 30, 2010
[These notes were made in 1984:]. I remember this one vividly from my childhood as the story where Percy is branded with an "M" on his forearm. It's marginally more implausible than some of the others (involving, as it does, a "double" in the coal-heaver Rateau), but the final confrontation with Chauvelin (Marguerite, as usual, having got herself imprisoned by him) is magnificent.
October 2, 2024
Two things:
1. How has Chauvelin not been executed yet???
2. Doesn’t that idiot know better than to kidnap Marguerite? Anytime he does that, the Scarlet Pimpernel goes full dark romance hero on him.
1. How has Chauvelin not been executed yet???
2. Doesn’t that idiot know better than to kidnap Marguerite? Anytime he does that, the Scarlet Pimpernel goes full dark romance hero on him.
April 18, 2016
This wasn't my favorite of the Scarlet Pimpernel series. A bit repetitive, and I actually guessed Sir Percy's plan as it was unfolding, which doesn't happen in every Scarlet Pimpernel book.
Still, it was an epic finale to the series. After everything that happens, it is easy to leave this book feeling like Sir Percy and Marguerite will finally have a chance to find a happy, peaceful life.
Still, it was an epic finale to the series. After everything that happens, it is easy to leave this book feeling like Sir Percy and Marguerite will finally have a chance to find a happy, peaceful life.
December 1, 2011
Loved Orczy's wonderful sense of adventure. I can't but marvel at this aristo author who could have been another Austen, but chose to be Dumas.
March 22, 2021
By no means perfect, but a comfort and a joy nonetheless.
February 14, 2024
4.5 stars!! Amazing. It was a bit slow in the beginning, but really took off after the first third. This makes for an excellent ending to the series (I think there are technically a few minor stories and spinoffs after this one, but is overall the main conclusion.)
Marguerite is back and gets some POV chapters. Any time she's here, I'm immediately happy. Once again there were so many adorable Percy and Marguerite romantic moments that made my little heart feel so warm and fuzzy.
Percy is once again a selfless, brave genius. I'm glad I skipped over some of the other books in the series so I can go back and see him again... I would be so sad if I was done with him now. I think Percy and Chauvelin's confrontation when Marguerite was kidnapped was one of my favorite scenes in the whole series so far. Rageful Percy as well as Fop Percy bringing the whole series full circle. Beautifully done.
Sadly, I missed the League so much in this book. They already had limited appearances, but there were hardly any moments with Percy and Andrew and Tony and the others. So that was kind of a bummer. I also HATED Theresia so much. She was so annoying and fickle with her loyalty. She had far too many POVs throughout this book and I just couldn't stand her. Thankfully Percy didn't give a crap about her either and wasn't charmed by her.
Also. The "M" branding.... yeah Percy is just a little bit insane. Marguerite has the man OBSESSED. Good for her. They get to live happily ever after now that the revolution is over. Yay!
Marguerite is back and gets some POV chapters. Any time she's here, I'm immediately happy. Once again there were so many adorable Percy and Marguerite romantic moments that made my little heart feel so warm and fuzzy.
Percy is once again a selfless, brave genius. I'm glad I skipped over some of the other books in the series so I can go back and see him again... I would be so sad if I was done with him now. I think Percy and Chauvelin's confrontation when Marguerite was kidnapped was one of my favorite scenes in the whole series so far. Rageful Percy as well as Fop Percy bringing the whole series full circle. Beautifully done.
Sadly, I missed the League so much in this book. They already had limited appearances, but there were hardly any moments with Percy and Andrew and Tony and the others. So that was kind of a bummer. I also HATED Theresia so much. She was so annoying and fickle with her loyalty. She had far too many POVs throughout this book and I just couldn't stand her. Thankfully Percy didn't give a crap about her either and wasn't charmed by her.
Also. The "M" branding.... yeah Percy is just a little bit insane. Marguerite has the man OBSESSED. Good for her. They get to live happily ever after now that the revolution is over. Yay!
June 28, 2020
This wasn't my favorite of the Pimpernel books. It is difficult to understand what is going on, and who the characters are early on. This was exacerbated on Librivox by the multi-cast reading, where everyone had a different microphone setup and some were quieter than others, had more echo, more talent, etc. It was just kind of messy to listen to. The story is also a bit repetitive of traditional Pimpernel tropes. Still, it was enjoyable enough. Sir Percy gets in a scrape, insults Chauvelin's cravat, and escapes with his wife, and all is well!
I have read four of these books now, and this would be the order I would read them in:
Scarlet Pimpernel
The Elusive Pimpernel
Eldorado
Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel.
I have read four of these books now, and this would be the order I would read them in:
Scarlet Pimpernel
The Elusive Pimpernel
Eldorado
Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel.
February 18, 2022
I loved the first Scarlet Pimpernel book so eagerly bought a copy of Triumph when I saw it in a second hand bookshop. Whilst not the second book in the series, both in terms of chronology or publication date, I don't think it affected my enjoyment of the book. Assuming you have knowledge of the basic set up you'll be fine, and even then characters are still given clear introductions.
Unfortunately the story is rather lacking. The Scarlet Pimpernel doesn't show up (out of disguise at least) for around 80 pages by my edition, and the plotting is fairly meandering without him.
We're introduced to various characters such as asthmatic coal heaver Rateau, the charlatan soothsayer Mother Theot, the drippy Regine, firebrand Bertrand and the glamorous Theresia Cabarrus, but how they all fit together takes a while to become clear. Some, like Regine who spends all her time pining after Bertrand, has a lot of pages spent on her at the beginning only to disappear later because she has no plot significance. Others, like Theresia and previously established characters like Chauvelin, spend a lot of time plotting early on only to disappear for a huge chunk in the middle and then turn up near the end.
Eventually they do start to come together mainly thanks to Sir Percy finally showing up. His wit and daring is ultimately the glue that holds the story and the characters together, and without him it starts to fray at the edges. He's witty, smart and daring, with a darker edge lurking just underneath that comes to the surface when those he cares about are threatened.
Despite all the characters milling around the story overall is fairly basic. Chavelin and Robespierre know that Sir Percy is the Scarlet Pimpernel so they send Theresia Cabarrus to England to try and seduce him back to France so he can be killed. Unsurprisingly it doesn't work, so they just kidnap his wife Marguerite instead, and threaten to kill her if he doesn't turn himself in. Given how easy it was to Theresia to get Percy alone you'd think they'd just give her a pistol to get it over an done with straight away. Instead, the captured wife scenario is a bit trite, and how it eventually wraps up isn't much of a surprise.
Still, Orczy does manage to build up a detailed picture of the environments, from spooky séance rooms, to the country idyll and the crime of the city. She also works in a historical facts which were interesting and provided weight for the events of the book. The back and forth between Percy and Chavelin, whilst much the same the first book, is sharp and funny, and for as annoyed as I was with Marguerite getting kidnapped again I did like the variety of female characters. I epsecially enjoyed the charismatic and scheming Theresia who makes a nice contrast for more caring figures like Marguerite.
Whilst not awful, there wasn't much to write home about in Triumph of The Scarlet Pimpernel, it just ends up feeling generic and half hearted.
Unfortunately the story is rather lacking. The Scarlet Pimpernel doesn't show up (out of disguise at least) for around 80 pages by my edition, and the plotting is fairly meandering without him.
We're introduced to various characters such as asthmatic coal heaver Rateau, the charlatan soothsayer Mother Theot, the drippy Regine, firebrand Bertrand and the glamorous Theresia Cabarrus, but how they all fit together takes a while to become clear. Some, like Regine who spends all her time pining after Bertrand, has a lot of pages spent on her at the beginning only to disappear later because she has no plot significance. Others, like Theresia and previously established characters like Chauvelin, spend a lot of time plotting early on only to disappear for a huge chunk in the middle and then turn up near the end.
Eventually they do start to come together mainly thanks to Sir Percy finally showing up. His wit and daring is ultimately the glue that holds the story and the characters together, and without him it starts to fray at the edges. He's witty, smart and daring, with a darker edge lurking just underneath that comes to the surface when those he cares about are threatened.
Despite all the characters milling around the story overall is fairly basic. Chavelin and Robespierre know that Sir Percy is the Scarlet Pimpernel so they send Theresia Cabarrus to England to try and seduce him back to France so he can be killed. Unsurprisingly it doesn't work, so they just kidnap his wife Marguerite instead, and threaten to kill her if he doesn't turn himself in. Given how easy it was to Theresia to get Percy alone you'd think they'd just give her a pistol to get it over an done with straight away. Instead, the captured wife scenario is a bit trite, and how it eventually wraps up isn't much of a surprise.
Still, Orczy does manage to build up a detailed picture of the environments, from spooky séance rooms, to the country idyll and the crime of the city. She also works in a historical facts which were interesting and provided weight for the events of the book. The back and forth between Percy and Chavelin, whilst much the same the first book, is sharp and funny, and for as annoyed as I was with Marguerite getting kidnapped again I did like the variety of female characters. I epsecially enjoyed the charismatic and scheming Theresia who makes a nice contrast for more caring figures like Marguerite.
Whilst not awful, there wasn't much to write home about in Triumph of The Scarlet Pimpernel, it just ends up feeling generic and half hearted.
July 13, 2012
Originally published on my blog here in May 2000.
Though better than I Will Repay, The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel is far inferior to The Scarlet Pimpernel. The cloying romantic side of I Will Repay is omitted, yet the story is less interesting and less exciting than the first novel. Like the other Scarlet Pimpernel novels The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel presents a one sided view of revolutionary France, and here it is even less balanced than before. Almost every sentence is tinged with contempt for the poor of Paris, and those who ruled France are demonised to such an extent that it is difficult to see why anyone would have supported their rise to power. (However, to be fair to Orczy, there are many contemporary and near contemporary views of the Nazis or Saddam Hussein which equally remove any trace of humanity from them - people are more complicated than makes for simple stereotypes!) I would not want to condone their actions, but I do feel that no one can be pure evil.
Though better than I Will Repay, The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel is far inferior to The Scarlet Pimpernel. The cloying romantic side of I Will Repay is omitted, yet the story is less interesting and less exciting than the first novel. Like the other Scarlet Pimpernel novels The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel presents a one sided view of revolutionary France, and here it is even less balanced than before. Almost every sentence is tinged with contempt for the poor of Paris, and those who ruled France are demonised to such an extent that it is difficult to see why anyone would have supported their rise to power. (However, to be fair to Orczy, there are many contemporary and near contemporary views of the Nazis or Saddam Hussein which equally remove any trace of humanity from them - people are more complicated than makes for simple stereotypes!) I would not want to condone their actions, but I do feel that no one can be pure evil.
September 8, 2011
Once again, Sir Percy the Pimpernel manages to keep a reader frantically page turning in breathless agony as to how exactly he’s going to get out of whatever situation he’s found himself in. The addition of another beautiful woman besides Marguerite makes this doubly interesting – especially because Cabarrus is a historical figure. And a fallen Chauvelin is still creepy and slimy and even more so because he has nothing to lose with his blunders. Orczy even set all of this against a backdrop of the days before the downfall of Robespierre – and manages to work the Pimpernel in as the instigator of the Thermidorian Reaction.
One thing I especially appreciate about Orczy’s writing style is her unwillingness to let us as readers be omniscient. We only get to see the action as it unfolds around whomever we happen to be reading about – we rarely get to have a foretaste of the Scarlet Pimpernel’s plans and plots; and never into his thoughts. This is slightly different from the other characters – we know of Chauvelin’s plotting, Theresia’s ambition, and Marguerite’s despair. But we never hear what is passing through Percy’s mind. And it makes it all the more thrilling when his plans finally are revealed and executed.
One thing I especially appreciate about Orczy’s writing style is her unwillingness to let us as readers be omniscient. We only get to see the action as it unfolds around whomever we happen to be reading about – we rarely get to have a foretaste of the Scarlet Pimpernel’s plans and plots; and never into his thoughts. This is slightly different from the other characters – we know of Chauvelin’s plotting, Theresia’s ambition, and Marguerite’s despair. But we never hear what is passing through Percy’s mind. And it makes it all the more thrilling when his plans finally are revealed and executed.
December 28, 2014
This is the fourth Pimpernel book I've read. I love the Scarlet Pimpernel but I just couldn't get into this one. The first 120 or so pages were difficult to get through. The Scarlet Pimpernel doesn't appear very much. There's also little of Marguerite and Chauvelin. It also incorporates a lot more history than the other Pimpernel books I've read and I think the author spent too much time on it. It got better at the end, but somehow it lacks the spark that the author is capable of. I wasn't crazy about The Elusive Pimpernel but I liked it more than this one simply because there was plenty of the 3 main characters. My favorite Pimpernel books are definitely the original Scarlet Pimpernel and also Eldorado. Those two are excellent.
February 5, 2015
I think this was the final book in the series??? (not sure about that) and it was generally entertaining, although it did tread some familiar ground. I enjoyed the explanation of the brand and what it meant, and found this, the winding up of Robespierre's time as leader of the Reign of Terror, an interesting and enjoyable story. Recommended.
June 5, 2024
'Il trionfo della Primula Rossa' è il settimo capitolo della celebre saga sulla Primula Rossa, scritta dalla Baronessa Emma Orczy ad inizio Novecento. Recuperato su ebay come quasi tutti i libri che ho di questa saga (ultimamente sono stati ristampati solo i primi titoli, mentre i seguiti sembrano essere dimenticati… o ‘cancellati’), questo libro mi è piaciuto moltissimo.
Ho apprezzato non solo la solita arte narrativa dalla Baronessa (che amo moltissimo), ma ho anche approfondito delle pieghe della storia della Rivoluzione Francese che non conoscevo e che mi hanno affascinata (ma quanto è brava la Baronessa a miscelare finzione e realtà?).
Curiosità: in questo romanzo viene approfondito il camuffamento della Primula Rossa nei panni del vagabondo Rateau, mostrato per la prima volta in un racconto de 'La lega della Primula Rossa' (il sesto capitolo).
Tra i moltissimi brani che mi hanno colpito per la loro modernità e la loro capacità di adattarsi perfettamente ai tempi in cui viviamo, ce ne sono due che mi piace citare:
“Dobbiamo tutti arrischiare le nostre miserabili vite, per far finire questa terribile tirannia. Non bisogna pensare solamente a noi, a quelli che ci sono cari, ma alla Francia, all’umanità, all’intero Universo. Il dispotismo di un sanguinario bruto ha fatto del popolo di Francia un popolo di schiavi, vili, paurosi, dominati dalla sua spada, ed ormai troppo invigliacchiti per ribellarsi” (pag. 32).
“Noi marchiamo cavalli che sono la proprietà dello Stato, perché allora non un uomo? Potrà venire anche il tempo in cui la Repubblica richiederà che ogni suo leale cittadino porti – indelebilmente impresso sulla pelle e per ordine dello Stato – il segno della sua fedeltà. (…) Voi comincerete con il somministrargli, a spese dello Stato, un’intera bottiglia d’eccellente acquavite. Quindi, quando egli sarà completamente ubriaco, il veterinario metterà sul suo avambraccio un marchio… solamente una lettera… Sono quasi sicuro che non sentirà il minimo dolore” (pag. 176).
Non so se vi risveglia qualcosa nella mente.
Complessivamente si tratta di un libro bellissimo, molto interessante dal punto di vista storico, dal punto di vista politico e dal punto di vista umano, perché cambiano i tempi, cambiano i luoghi, cambiano i mezzi ma non cambia la natura dei tiranni.
Gli appassionati della saga ritroveranno molti dei personaggi più amati ed apprezzeranno i capitoli dedicati a Sir Percy e Marguerite.
Ho apprezzato non solo la solita arte narrativa dalla Baronessa (che amo moltissimo), ma ho anche approfondito delle pieghe della storia della Rivoluzione Francese che non conoscevo e che mi hanno affascinata (ma quanto è brava la Baronessa a miscelare finzione e realtà?).
Curiosità: in questo romanzo viene approfondito il camuffamento della Primula Rossa nei panni del vagabondo Rateau, mostrato per la prima volta in un racconto de 'La lega della Primula Rossa' (il sesto capitolo).
Tra i moltissimi brani che mi hanno colpito per la loro modernità e la loro capacità di adattarsi perfettamente ai tempi in cui viviamo, ce ne sono due che mi piace citare:
“Dobbiamo tutti arrischiare le nostre miserabili vite, per far finire questa terribile tirannia. Non bisogna pensare solamente a noi, a quelli che ci sono cari, ma alla Francia, all’umanità, all’intero Universo. Il dispotismo di un sanguinario bruto ha fatto del popolo di Francia un popolo di schiavi, vili, paurosi, dominati dalla sua spada, ed ormai troppo invigliacchiti per ribellarsi” (pag. 32).
“Noi marchiamo cavalli che sono la proprietà dello Stato, perché allora non un uomo? Potrà venire anche il tempo in cui la Repubblica richiederà che ogni suo leale cittadino porti – indelebilmente impresso sulla pelle e per ordine dello Stato – il segno della sua fedeltà. (…) Voi comincerete con il somministrargli, a spese dello Stato, un’intera bottiglia d’eccellente acquavite. Quindi, quando egli sarà completamente ubriaco, il veterinario metterà sul suo avambraccio un marchio… solamente una lettera… Sono quasi sicuro che non sentirà il minimo dolore” (pag. 176).
Non so se vi risveglia qualcosa nella mente.
Complessivamente si tratta di un libro bellissimo, molto interessante dal punto di vista storico, dal punto di vista politico e dal punto di vista umano, perché cambiano i tempi, cambiano i luoghi, cambiano i mezzi ma non cambia la natura dei tiranni.
Gli appassionati della saga ritroveranno molti dei personaggi più amati ed apprezzeranno i capitoli dedicati a Sir Percy e Marguerite.
February 15, 2023
This book leaned more on the historical side of historical fiction. The first 10 chapters and last 10 pages were more about the end of Robespierre's rule than the fictional Scarlet Pimpernel and it was just tough to get through. That said, I did enjoy the middle bit when Percy, Marguerite, and the rest of the league were more involved.
I definitely have read these books out of order because they kept referring to some incident in the Bolognese area and I haven't read about that yet. Will I read more in this series? Maybe. But I still prefer the original book (and the movies, and the musical, and...)
I definitely have read these books out of order because they kept referring to some incident in the Bolognese area and I haven't read about that yet. Will I read more in this series? Maybe. But I still prefer the original book (and the movies, and the musical, and...)
July 10, 2020
It's 5 years after the beginning of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror still continues under the control of Robspierre. Everyone is afraid to openly oppose his tyranny for if they do their life is lost. Only the Scarlet Pimpernel thwarts the evil work, saving the lives of those destined to die. But the Scarlet Pimpernel has enemies too and they are determined to stop him. The evil Chauvelin and the beautiful Theresia Cabarrus scheme to bring him down, but can they trap the elusive Pimpernel, or will he succeed at destroying their plans and the tyranny oppressing France?
November 5, 2017
This is another in the series of books about th Scarlet Pimpernel. It is one of the best in the series about the revolution and the horrible treatment of not only the aristocracy but anyone against the leaders and many lost their heads for no reason other than they were said to be against the leader. The Pimpernel would save many from this fate of death and damage the leadership with great plots of subversion and intrigue.
September 18, 2019
This episode of the Pimpernel series is more closely tied in to actual historical events than usual, and includes more than the average number of tricky situations for our hero and his wife. I think some of what I most enjoy about the series, though, is the interactions between Percy, Marguerite, *and their friends/allies,* and that was basically entirely missing here. The book had a harder time keeping my attention than some other ones in the series.
May 21, 2020
One of the more interesting stories in the series, though I will always take points off for racism no matter how old a book is. Also, I do wish this series had more strong female characters than just Marguerite, especially since it is written by a woman. Theresia has no backbone.
April 13, 2020
The subject of race was handled more questionably than usual in one particular spot.
October 29, 2023
Back to mid books, I guess. The female characters kinda has some personality but let's be honest no they didn't. Nothing much happened, the climax was underwhelming, etc. Pretty typical Orczy fare
May 1, 2010
So this is the end of the adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel for now. I do believe that this book is intended to be the last. I did like it. It was well written. It has a lot more history in it than most of the other books. I'd read this one with the others just because it is the end. So to cap it all off...
You should read the following if you do not want to read the whole series. (these are listed in chronological order)
• The First Sir Percy (I bet The Laughing Cavalier is really good too, but I haven't read that one yet)
- this book is about the Scarlet Pimpernel's father/grandfather.
• The Scarlet Pimpernel
- The original book
• The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel
- A bunch of the Scarlet Pimpernel rescues without all the other history etc.
• The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel
- The last adventure/rescue
If you want to read more than this and still not read the series I'd read the following (these are iin chronological order)
• The First Sir Percy (I bet The Laughing Cavalier is really good too, but I haven't read that one yet)
- this book is about the Scarlet Pimpernel's father/grandfather.
• The Scarlet Pimpernel
- The original book
• The Elusive Pimpernel
- I can't really tell you what this book is about without spoiling it. Chauvelin uses blackmail to try and
capture Sir Percy
• Eldorado
- The resuce of The young Louie Capet and another adventure.
• Mam'zelle Guillotine
- This is an adventure where Sir Percy faces off with a woman rather than Chauvelin
• The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel
- A bunch of the Scarlet Pimpernel rescues without all the other history etc.
• The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel
- The last adventure/rescue
And there you have it. I have read all of these books except the very first one (in chronological order) "The Laughing Cavalier",then "I will Repay" (in the middle of the series), " Lord Tony's Wife" (in the middle or the series), "A child of the Revolution" (which is supposed to be after the Triumph of the scarlet pimpernel), and "Pimpernel and Rosemary" (which is after "A child of the revolution". Well, Enjoy!
You should read the following if you do not want to read the whole series. (these are listed in chronological order)
• The First Sir Percy (I bet The Laughing Cavalier is really good too, but I haven't read that one yet)
- this book is about the Scarlet Pimpernel's father/grandfather.
• The Scarlet Pimpernel
- The original book
• The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel
- A bunch of the Scarlet Pimpernel rescues without all the other history etc.
• The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel
- The last adventure/rescue
If you want to read more than this and still not read the series I'd read the following (these are iin chronological order)
• The First Sir Percy (I bet The Laughing Cavalier is really good too, but I haven't read that one yet)
- this book is about the Scarlet Pimpernel's father/grandfather.
• The Scarlet Pimpernel
- The original book
• The Elusive Pimpernel
- I can't really tell you what this book is about without spoiling it. Chauvelin uses blackmail to try and
capture Sir Percy
• Eldorado
- The resuce of The young Louie Capet and another adventure.
• Mam'zelle Guillotine
- This is an adventure where Sir Percy faces off with a woman rather than Chauvelin
• The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel
- A bunch of the Scarlet Pimpernel rescues without all the other history etc.
• The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel
- The last adventure/rescue
And there you have it. I have read all of these books except the very first one (in chronological order) "The Laughing Cavalier",then "I will Repay" (in the middle of the series), " Lord Tony's Wife" (in the middle or the series), "A child of the Revolution" (which is supposed to be after the Triumph of the scarlet pimpernel), and "Pimpernel and Rosemary" (which is after "A child of the revolution". Well, Enjoy!
July 17, 2014
I read this book because I volunteered to do the editing for a Librivox dramatic reading of it. I was unfamiliar with the text, but wanted more editing experience.
The book itself is alright. It is decently suspenseful though not shocking, compelling though not thought-provoking, and imaginative though not mind-blowing. The characters are fun and engaging even if a bit static. The views of race, class, and gender are rather...1922. But for what it is (a historical adventure story), it is enjoyable enough.
The audiobook, however, is excellent and highly recommended. Bob Neufeld's narration is consistently dramatic, and his reading of the villain Chauvelin is delightfully creepy. Jason Mills's reading of Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel himself, is at times playful and boyish, at times grave, and always downright charming. Arielle Lipshaw makes an equally charming and likable Marguerite Blakeney, neé St. Just. Amanda Friday's interpretation of Theresia Cabarrus brings the historical character to life as she convincingly portrays her both at her most manipulative and at her most earnest. Kathy Wright steals the show in the few chapters in which she appears as the Soothsayer, and Brett W. Downey and Paul Simonin both deliver solid performances as Tallien and Robespierre, respectively.
The experience of reading this book would not have been as much fun in any other context. If this one's on your reading list, I strongly suggest checking out this recording, which is available for free download in Librivox's catalog:
https://librivox.org/the-triumph-of-t...
The book itself is alright. It is decently suspenseful though not shocking, compelling though not thought-provoking, and imaginative though not mind-blowing. The characters are fun and engaging even if a bit static. The views of race, class, and gender are rather...1922. But for what it is (a historical adventure story), it is enjoyable enough.
The audiobook, however, is excellent and highly recommended. Bob Neufeld's narration is consistently dramatic, and his reading of the villain Chauvelin is delightfully creepy. Jason Mills's reading of Sir Percy Blakeney, the Scarlet Pimpernel himself, is at times playful and boyish, at times grave, and always downright charming. Arielle Lipshaw makes an equally charming and likable Marguerite Blakeney, neé St. Just. Amanda Friday's interpretation of Theresia Cabarrus brings the historical character to life as she convincingly portrays her both at her most manipulative and at her most earnest. Kathy Wright steals the show in the few chapters in which she appears as the Soothsayer, and Brett W. Downey and Paul Simonin both deliver solid performances as Tallien and Robespierre, respectively.
The experience of reading this book would not have been as much fun in any other context. If this one's on your reading list, I strongly suggest checking out this recording, which is available for free download in Librivox's catalog:
https://librivox.org/the-triumph-of-t...
September 5, 2025
So, so good! Such an exciting read. Percy interacts with a range of people in this book: the people he rescues, Marguerite, Chauvelin, and several historical figures. We get to see his humor, wit, creativity, and everything that makes him so fun to read. We also get to see sides of him that we see less often but that add depth to his character, such as discomfort with an awkward situation. This book is set towards the end of the series.
I knocked one star off because there was one character whose scenes I just didn't enjoy. Since they were few and far between, I just skipped those. Overall though, it was an exciting read.
I knocked one star off because there was one character whose scenes I just didn't enjoy. Since they were few and far between, I just skipped those. Overall though, it was an exciting read.
July 16, 2015
It's not a favorite Pimpernel book, but I enjoyed it. It tends to drag in some places, many of the supporting characters are flat, and the ending is quite predictable, but I enjoyed the development of a strong female villainess. I also enjoyed the return of the indefatigable Sir Percy and willful Marguerite.
Read
January 20, 2009Fantastic. Although, I wished for a little more for the 'lesser' characters. It seemed to end too well to those who didn't deserve it then we get nothing for the good ones. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. MORE MARGOT PERCY!
February 25, 2010
I adore The Scarlet Pimpernel, but I didn't really like this one. It took a long time to really get going and was about other people more than Percy. Also, his triumph in the end was based on luck and chance and not so much a cunning fail proof plan.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews