Jonathan Grimwood, writing under the name Jon Courtenay Grimwood, has won the British Science Fiction Association Award for Best Novel twice, and his work has been published in over fifteen languages. His new book is The Last Banquet.For the Guardian, he chose fiction's best treatments of the mother of modern revolts, the French Revolution. One title on the list:
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emma OrczyRead about another book on the list.
Sir Percy Blakeney has a secret from his estranged French wife Marguerite and the rest of high society. He's a handkerchief-waving wealthy fop to those who don't know him; to the very few who do he's the steely-eyed leader of a group of English aristocrats dedicated to saving their French counterparts from the dreaded guillotine. Orczy's 1905 bestseller was followed by other Pimpernel titles, none quite so wonderfully ridiculous, overheated or successful as the original.
The Scarlet Pimpernel is on Laura Powell's top ten list of heroes in disguise, Justin Scroggie's top ten list of books with secret signs and Peter Millar's top six list of spy books.
--Marshal Zeringue
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