Lord Tony's Wife [Hardcover]

Emmuska Orczy, Baroness Orczy (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1917. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... BOOK TWO: NANTES, DECEMBER, 1793 CHAPTER I THE TIGER S LAIR Nante's is in the grip of the tiger. Representative Carrier--with powers as of a proconsul--has been sent down to stamp out the lingering remnants of the counter-revolution. La Vendee is temporarily subdued; the army of the royalists driven back across the Loire; but traitors still abound--this the National Convention in Paris hath decreed--there are traitors everywhere. They were not all massacred at Cholet and Savenay. Disbanded, yes! but not exterminated, and wolves must not be allowed to run loose, lest they band again, and try to devour the flocks. Therefore extermination is the order of the day. Every traitor or would-be traitor--every son and daughter and father and mother of traitors must be destroyed ere they do more mischief. And Carrier--Carrier the coward who turned tail and bolted at Cholet--is sent to Nantes to carry on the work of destruction. Wolves and wolflings all! Let none survive. Give them fair trial, of course. As traitors they have deserved death--have they not taken up ams against the Republic and against the Will and the Reign of the People? But let a court of justice sit in Nantes town; let the whole nation know how traitors are dealt with: let the nation see that her rulers are both wise and just. Let wolves and wolflings be brought up for trial, and set up the guillotine on Place du Bouffay with four executioners appointed to do her work. There would be too much work for two, or even three. Let there be four--and let the work of extermination be complete. And Carrier--with powers as of a proconsul--arrives in Nantes town and sets to work to organise his household. Civil and military--with pomp and circumstance--for the son of a small farmer, destined originally for ...

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover
• Publisher: Buccaneer Books (November 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899665535
• ISBN-13: 978-0899665535
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,159,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pimpernel Time, June 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Lord Tony's Wife (Hardcover)

Lord Tony's wife is stolen from him by the Martin-Roger. Chavelin joins in the story. He sets a trap for Percy. In this story you learn how much Percy loves Marguerite and how he doesn't want to leave her. Marguerite helps in the wedding plans. This is one of the best sequels to the Scarlet Pimpernel! Tony really trusts Percy implicitly with everthing he has.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We seek him here, we seek him there..., November 19, 2002

By 

"shgumby" (Fairfax, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lord Tony's Wife (Hardcover)

Okay, for those of you Pimpernel fanatics, this is the sixth book of the Pimpernel series. Our dear flirtatious Lord Anthony Dewhurst has fallen in love with a certain Yvonne de Kernogan. However, her father the Duc, and a vengeful peasant have other matrimonial plans for her. After some clever spying work, Sir Percy urges Lord Tony to marry Yvonne secretly. Things go all wrong when she is kidnapped shortly after the wedding, and Lord Tony must look to the Scarlet Pimpernel to help save his wife. Things are, of course, made difficult with Monsieur Chambertin...er, Chauvelin... on the trail.

Extremely entertaining and a great book!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Less Invective + More Involved Plot, + Developed Characters = A Better Novel, July 3, 2006

By 

WILLIAM H FULLER (SPEARFISH, SD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lord Tony's Wife (Hardcover)

LORD TONY'S WIFE is, I believe, the fifth book (or thereabouts) in the series written in the early 20th century by Baroness Orczy around the character of the Scarlet Pimpernel, that English adventurer, master of disguise, embodiment of bravado, and pillar of strength, whose self-appointed mission it is to rescue former aristocrats from the fell clutches of the Committee of Public Safety in late 18th century post-Revolutionary France. Should he fail, the bloodied guillotine shall claim yet another victim.

This book, however, shows what we might describe as a maturing of Orczy's style and a welcome variation on what was becoming a highly predictable plot in her earlier novels. Heretofore, Orczy has veritably hammered her readers with unceasing imprecations against the revolutionaries who overthrew a monarchy to establish the First Republic in France. Not to pardon the excesses and numerous beheadings practiced by the leaders of the late 18th century Republic, but Orczy's constant references to them as terrorists, thugs, murderers, villains, traitors and such like were becoming quite worn after four books of repetitive and caustic diatribe. Chauvelin, an agent of the revolutionary government and the Pimpernel's antagonist, was portrayed as nothing less than a minion of Satan. The negative hyperbole throughout the first four novels was becoming tedious, to say the least.

While the reader of LORD TONY'S WIFE still meets Chauvelin in his role of villainous antagonist, he is now only one of several. Likewise, while the revolutionary government is still portrayed as a pestilential blight upon the land and its people, Orczy has somewhat tired of battering her readers with unending string of imprecations against that government. The relief is palpable (at least until we get to the character of Carrier in the latter pages of the novel, when the hyperbolic strings of pejorative adjectives come alive again).

Orczy's characters seem more fully rounded and less stereotyped in this novel than in her earlier efforts, with, perhaps, the noted exception of Carrier. As such, they are more interesting, and the motivations for their actions evolve from their participation in actual events rather than resulting purely from their stereotyped natures. They are more believable as real people. One of the most enjoyable changes in this novel is that we no longer see our hapless lady fall into peril because of her essential "feminine weakness." While our fair lady does indeed fall into peril and must be rescued by the Scarlet Pimpernel as usual, this time it is in no way her fault. In fact, she is betrayed by her own father, who in turn has been beguiled by a clever plot laid by peasant Pierre Adet, or rather by his rich alter ego, the banker Martin-Roget.

In sum, the plot elements in LORD TONY'S WIFE are more complex and interesting than are those in the previous four novels, the characters are more rounded and less stereotyped, and the descriptions of the revolutionaries against whom the Pimpernel must pit his cunning are less stridently negative, all of which makes this the most interesting book of the series thus far. With that praise deservedly awarded, we must also admit that Orczy's novels remain primarily adventures written to entertain through their plot and action. As a writer, Orczy fits much more securely in the pulp fiction category than with the likes of Melville and Conrad, or even Rafael Sabatini (to include the swashbuckling genre).

I'm not quite certain just why her first work, THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, garnered so much popularity that it generated these sequels, but the name is well known, which is probably sufficient justification for reading the novel (originally a play) and its sequels. And please don't give up if the first three sequels seem repetitive and predictable. When you reach the fourth, LORD TONY'S WIFE, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at its comparative improvement in quality. Judged by nothing more than its entertainment value, the novel would probably extract five stars from me, but I just can't quite give the top rating to a plot-dependent adventure novel, no matter how much improved over its predecessors.