The Secret History of the Pink Carnation
A Pink Carnation Novel
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4.2 • 85 Ratings
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- $3.99
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
Everything is coming up carnations in this national bestselling series
Realizing romantic heroes are a thing of the past, graduate student Eloise Kelly is determined to focus on her work. Her first stop: England, to finish her dissertation on the English spies of the Napoleonic Wars, like the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian.
But her greatest conquest is to reveal the most elusive spy of them all, the dashing Pink Carnation. As she does, she discovers something for the history books-a living, breathing hero all her very own...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The French eventually unmasked the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian, famed spies in the Napoleonic wars, but as Harvard graduate student Eloise Kelly discovers at the start of this breezy historical romance, the identity of the Pink Carnation remains a mystery. Working in London on her history dissertation, Eloise gets access to a trunk of papers and documents from the early 19th century. She dives into this treasure trove, and suddenly the reader is plunged into a novel within a novel, told from the viewpoint of Amy Balcourt. Amy, exiled to rural England with her mother, now wants to avenge, with the help of her cousin Jane, her father's death at the hands of the French. She hopes to be in league with the Scarlet Pimpernel, who heroically tried to save her father. Willig, a Harvard graduate student herself, does a good job painting a picture of the tumultuous era. She also makes the sparks fly between Amy and the Purple Gentian, a dashing English nobleman in charge of Egyptian antiquities for Bonaparte. But when the Pink Carnation's identity is finally revealed after many obvious clues, the reader wonders why it took Eloise so long to get it. More critically, Eloise's appearances come to seem like awkward intrusions into Amy's and the Pink Carnation's more intriguing story.
Customer Reviews
Highly Recommend! Who Doesn't Love Spies?
My teenaged daughter borrowed this historical romance from a friend and pronounced it awesome. I like a good (awesome is even better) historical romance, so I decided to read it myself. This isn't the genre I generally reach for to quench my word-thirst, but if it's awesome I can't pass it up.
Was it awesome? Yes. Yes it was. Imagine, if you will, England in the spring of 1803. Okay, I can't imagine it either, but you won't need to. Willig sets the scenes beautifully, but never lets the landscape overtake the plot. Her characters are just as delightful. The main heroine is absolutely delicious. I love her personality. She's full of strength and weakness, courage and trepidation, purposefulness and utter distraction. Willig's ability to give the reader such in-depth knowledge of Amy Balcourt is what draws you in. Not to be overshadowed by the heroine, the hero, Lord Richard Selwick, is quite the mixture himself. Strong and confident, but completely confounded by this unexpected woman.
Other characters are just as intriguing and well detailed. I adored Miss Gwen and her fine cane. You'll love her too when you read this book.
Oh... and there's another story going on while you read about Richard and Amy. Modern day Eloise is writing her dissertation. She's in England chasing the Pink Carnation by way of digging into the past of the Purple Gentian. Rummaging through old papers and spending days inside library dungeon-esque basements, her determination to unravel the mystery is contagious.
Even if you don't usually go for historical romance, I think you'll find this a rewarding read. Just think of it as a spy novel set in the past with some romance on the side.
KarenJones.us
Goodreads.com/TheKarenJones