Sir Percy Hits Back - Baroness Emmuska Orczy

. .

Résumé :
Sir Percy Hits Back is one of many sequels to The Scarlet Pimpernel. It spends most of its time examining an unknown side of the series' villain, Chauvelin. Usually portrayed as a calculating, cold-hearted executioner, the character's softer side is shown as the reader discovers he is a father. It was an excellent example of how to make a character--even a villainous one--sympathetic to the reader. In the other books, Orczy habitually describes Chauvelin's hands as talon-like and sinister. However, in this volume the perspective changes to that of his daughter and she uses much softer terms to describe them. This book showed me how point of view changes how the author portrays the same object, person, etc. which I have implemented many times in my own writing. (Elyse Kelly) About the author: Baroness Emma Magdolna Roz?lia M?ria Jozefa Borb?la Emmuska Orczy de Orci (23 September 1865 - 12 November 1947) was a Hungarian-born British novelist and playwright. She is best known for her series of novels featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel, the alter ego of Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy English fop who turns into a quick-thinking escape artist in order to save ill-fated French royalty from Madame Guillotine during the French revolution. Introducing the notion of a hero with a secret identity into popular culture, the Scarlet Pimpernel exhibits characteristics that would become standard superhero conventions, including the penchant for disguise, use of a signature weapon (sword), ability to out-think and outwit his adversaries, and a calling card (he leaves behind a scarlet pimpernel at each of his interventions). By drawing attention to his alter ego Blakeney he hides behind his public face as a slow thinking foppish playboy (like Bruce Wayne), and he also establishes a network of supporters, The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, that aid his endeavours. Orczy went on to write over a dozen sequels featuring Sir Percy Blakeney, his family, and the other members of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel, of which the first, I Will Repay (1906), was the most popular. The last Pimpernel book, Mam'zelle Guillotine, was published in 1940. None of her three subsequent plays matched the success of The Scarlet Pimpernel. She also wrote popular mystery fiction and many adventure romances. Her Lady Molly of Scotland Yard was an early example of a female detective as the main character. Other popular detective stories featured The Old Man in the Corner, a sleuth who chiefly used logic to solve crimes. Orczy held strong political views. Orczy was a firm believer in the superiority of the aristocracy, as well as being a supporter of British imperialism and militarism. During the First World War, Orczy formed the Women of England's Active Service League, an unofficial organisation aimed at encouraging women to persuade men to volunteer for active service in the armed forces. Her aim was to enlist 100,000 women who would pledge to persuade every man I know to offer his service to his country. Some 20,000 women joined her organisation. Orczy was also strongly opposed to the Soviet Union. She died in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire on 12 November 1947. (wikipedia.org)

Biographie:
Baroness Emmuska Orczy was born in Tarnaors, Hungary in 1865. She was a notable artist, playwright and author. Her father Baron Felix Orczy was a composer and mother Countess Emma Orczy. Due to a peasant revolt her family fled to Brussels then Paris and lastly to London. With her sister Emma studied in convent schools in Brussels and Paris. She learned music and paintings but gained success in paintings at the West London School of Art and at Heartherley. In collaboration with her husband Montague Barstow, Baroness Hungarian fairy tales and began writing romance and fiction. She was appreciated for the translation of Old Hungarian Fairy Tales. Her first novel, The Emperor's Candlesticks faced rejection for being too short. But her second novel 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' proved a boon for him, she earned name and fame. As a prominent author she wrote dozens of romantic novels, plays and detective stories. Her memorable works-The Man in Grey, The Laughing Cavalier, Skin O' My Tooth, Eldorado- a sequel to the Scarlet Pimpernel, The Old Man in the Corner, The Divine Folly, The Old Scare Crow, Lady Molly of Scotland Yard etc. She was died in London in 1947.