Customer Reviews

The Laughing Cavalier

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Strange how the literary mind works; if I can be so conceited as to call my mind "literary." While reading The Laughing Cavalier I continually chastised myself for thinking snobbish thoughts. To be specific, "This book is so enjoyable, it cannot have been a critical success." Baroness Orczy's books did manage to buy her an estate in Monte Carlo, but what did the critics say? My research never turned up a pro or con on this issue, but I wondered just the same.

Not without just cause. Anyone who has been to high school knows that "the classics" can get really boring. More recently, I pondered the phenomenon of "Critical Acclaim" again when I read The Workshop: Seven Decades of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. The stories presented in this book were intriguing until the timeline progressed to the `60's, at which time the stories became progressively pointless and uniformly depressing. When I finished Gail Godwin's "A Sorrowful Woman," I closed the book and forgot about reading any more "critically acclaimed" works. To Ms. Godwin's credit, hers was a well-written story, but the only inspiration one gets from this story might be to buy razor blades.

Only recently, I read in the Wall Street Journal that Daphne Du Maurier died a wealthy but sorrowful woman because her works never received the critical acclaim she craved. I thought maybe she should take it as a compliment. In my plebeian opinion Rebecca is one of the finest novels ever written, and as intriguing as The Last of the Mohicans is boring.

So tell me again, what this has to do with The Laughing Cavalier? No, I don't think the critics liked TLC. Yes, I do recommend it. TLC is an engaging and even educational novel. You learn some European history. You learn some art history, and you learn a lot of words from the Dutch language. The words, even the swear words, can create a learning curve that may take a while to overcome.

The story takes place in Holland, where a plot to kill the Stadtholder (one of those Dutch words for a ruler) was in the planning in a Cathedral on New Years' Eve, 1624. As luck would have it, the sister of one of the plotters overheard the plans. The plotters found it necessary to remove the young woman until the deed was done, and since they could not find it in their hearts to kill her, they arranged to have her kidnapped. When they happened upon the "laughing cavalier", Diogenes, they knew they had found the perfect man for the job. The Cavalier is very good at what he does, and the kidnapping is accomplished without a hitch, except that Diogenes must return to finish posing for his friend, Franz Hals, who needs to finish his painting called The Laughing Cavalier, in order to sell the painting and feed his family. After the painting is finished, Diogenes and Hals mosey over to the local tavern to quench their thirst. There they meet a local nobleman who is overcome with grief because his daughter has been kidnapped. Hals, unaware of Diogenes' previous deed, encourages the nobleman to hire his friend to rescue her. Although Diogenes tries to demure, Hals will not take "no" for an answer, and the nobleman, convinced, offers Diogenes half his fortune to bring his daughter home.

Unlike The Scarlet Pimpernel, his ancestor, Diogenes, has not yet established himself as a man of sterling character or irreproachable moral integrity. Some of the fun of TLC is that one is uncertain whether he will wind up in jail or on the scaffold, and whether he just might deserve such a fate.

An interesting historical note is that Baroness Orczy was a painter as well as a writer, although she was not successful as a painter, a likely reason why she included a real-life painter in her novel. Franz Hals was actually a painter of this historical period. His painting of The Laughing Cavalier appears as the cover for this ebook download.

"The Scarlet Pimpernel" is one of my favorite movies. Since first watching it in the early 1980s I've watched two to three dozen times. I am working to indoctrinate my daughters. My oldest says she has seen it five time!

In the late 1980s I saw the play in London. They did a great job. I burst out laughing when they went in to rescue the prince and a game of rugby broke out.

Recently while reading at the Percival Blakeney Academy blog I realized that I had never read any of Baroness Orczy's books. In doing a bit of research I found there were a whole series of books on "The Scarlet Pimpernel" by Emma Orczy.

I decided to start at the beginning, with "The Laughing Cavalier." This is the story of one of Sir Percy Blakeney's ancestors. Diogenes, our hero, is an Englishman in Holland in 1623. He is asked to kidnap a young woman, who you soon realize will be his future wife.

There is a lot of intrigue against the Prince of Orange. The villain is planning an uprising. The woman's brother has been taken in by the villian. The brother is the one who hired the cavalier. It was kind of funny, later the father offers to pay Diogenes to find his daughter. And at one point the woman tries to pay Diogenes to warn the Prince of Orange. Diogenes declines the offer but still manages to warn the prince.

I enjoyed the story. It was pleasant, fast moving, and interesting. I enjoyed the historical background. The book was very descriptive in how people lived.

If you have enjoyed any of Baroness Orczy's stories, I'm sure you will enjoy "The Laughing Cavalier."

It is probably about time to watch the movie again!

If you've read any of Orczy's other work, the style of this one won't be a surprise ... a romantic tale of villains and heroes, and honor, chivalry, a blossoming love story, and full of lavish descriptions. This is a standalone 'prequel' story to the Scarlet Pimpernel books, but all the characters are distinct and I think this is one of the best stories she wrote. Diogenes and his fellow 'philosophers' are even more fun than his namesake descendant, being somewhat of a ruffian.

Copyright is out on these so you can find the words on the Internet, but this published book is quite nice, decently large and well-bound with nice print. It's totally worth the money to save you the eye strain. Plus, you get the eponymous cavalier on the cover :).

"The Scarlet Pimpernel" is one of my favorite movies. Since first watching it in the early 1980s I've watched two to three dozen times. I am working to indoctrinate my daughters. My oldest says she has seen it five time!

In the late 1980s I saw the play in London. They did a great job. I burst out laughing when they went in to rescue the prince and a game of rugby broke out.

Recently while reading at the Percival Blakeney Academy blog I realized that I had never read any of Baroness Orczy's books. In doing a bit of research I found there were a whole series of books on "The Scarlet Pimpernel" by Emma Orczy.

I decided to start at the beginning, with "The Laughing Cavalier." This is the story of one of Sir Percy Blakeney's ancestors. Diogenes, our hero, is an Englishman in Holland in 1623. He is asked to kidnap a young woman, who you soon realize will be his future wife.

There is a lot of intrigue against the Prince of Orange. The villain is planning an uprising. The woman's brother has been taken in by the villian. The brother is the one who hired the cavalier. It was kind of funny, later the father offers to pay Diogenes to find his daughter. And at one point the woman tries to pay Diogenes to warn the Prince of Orange. Diogenes declines the offer but still manages to warn the prince.

I enjoyed the story. It was pleasant, fast moving, and interesting. I enjoyed the historical background. The book was very descriptive in how people lived.

If you have enjoyed any of Baroness Orczy's stories, I'm sure you will enjoy "The Laughing Cavalier."

It is probably about time to watch the movie again!

Even more romping in the face of those dastardly Frenchie anti-royalist
cranium removers. Fun adventure. Lots of information on the beginnings
and early adventures of the group that leads up to the Scarlet
Pimpernel. Much capturing of the good guys by evil bad guys, threats,
dramatic posturing, attempts to take away the women, desperate
horseback rides and war.