The Scarlet Pimpernel (Macmillan Collector’s Library)

A swashbuckling classic of action-adventure with one of the most distinctive heroes in fiction – the flamboyant Scarlet Pimpernel
The French Revolution is in full swing and the aristocracy are being sent to the guillotine in their hundreds. In the shadows, English dandy Sir Peter Blakeney – working under his alter ego, the Scarlet Pimpernel – is breaking the condemned out of prison and leaving his distinctive calling card, a picture of a red flower, to torment the French authorities. A master of disguise, infamous escape artist and flamboyant swordsman, his identity is such a closely guarded secret that even his wife is in the dark. But, with enemy agents on close his tail, his failure to trust her might be his undoing.

This beautiful Macmillan Collector’s Library edition of The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy features an introduction by Dame Hilary Mantel, the Booker prize-winning author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.