BURKE AND THE PIMPERNEL AFFAIR

After the very dark story of Burke in Ireland, I thought it was time to have something that was more frothy and fun. As a child I had enjoyed Baroness Orczy’s Scarlet Pimpernel stories and the idea of a story of a daring British agent freeing French prisoners from Paris gaols appealed. So that’s what I’ve written. It’s an outrageous spy story but with a surprising amount of historical fact hidden away in the froth. Paris in 1809 was a hotbed of espionage and counter-espionage with many attempts made to free British agents from captivity – many surprisingly successful.

Burke and the Pimpernel Affair is a relatively light-hearted story. The body count is in low single figures – practically bloodless by Burke standards – and there are the usual comic asides. It introduces quite a few real people who are fascinating characters in their own right: the odious Fouché as chief villain; Morel de Vindé, an aristocratic survivor of the revolution who could pretty well justify his own book; and, of course, the Empress Josephine, who was, in reality, much more than a silly woman who got lucky with Napoleon.

If you like solidly-based historical fiction that is written to entertain, this one is for you.