In Lauren Willig’s The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, a lovelorn
American historian stumbles across a series of letters that unmask a historical
mystery and tell another love story.
ELOISE KELLY is a Harvard-trained historian spending a year in England
researching her dissertation. It has a
bland title that got it past the committee (something to do with aristocratic
espionage during the 19th century) but what she really wants to do
is unmask the identity of a spy known as THE PINK CARNATION. Unlike the Scarlet
Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian (two other aristocrats who saved others during
the French Revolution), the Pink Carnation’s identity has never been
revealed.
Desperate for information, Eloise has resorted to sending out letters to
the descendants of the Pimpernel and the Gentian, in hopes that the families
might have some information for her. She
sent out almost two dozen letters but received only three replies. One was a form letter with the times the
Scarlet Pimpernel’s home is open to the public.
One was a letter from Mr. COLIN SELWICK clearly discouraging her interest
in his family. And one was a letter from
MRS. ARABELLA SELWICK-ADDERLY inviting her to tea.
The dual time-frame story that unfolds from there manages to avoid most of
the pitfalls of most such stories (an unbalanced narrative where the past story
is more engaging than the contemporary one as it was in both THE FRIENCH
LIEUTENANT’S WOMAN and POSSESSION) but the story that takes place in the past
really is a romp.
That section of the novel reads like a regency romance, with a dash of
old fashioned books like THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL and THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
thrown in. (One of the conventions of
this book is that the Scarlet Pimpernel was a real person and that his
masquerade inspired imitators like the Purple Gentian and the Pink
Carnation.) There’s also a strong dash
of Jane Austen here, and the writer seems to be having a great time.
The double sets of lovers—Colin and Eloise in the present; Richard and
Amy in the past—are types we’ve seen many times but Willig makes the obstacles
to their relationships engaging and entertaining. We like Eloise and are
curious to know how her story turns out. Amy (the Elizabeth Bennet character)
is headstrong and spoiled but she’s also smart and brave and resourceful. She and Richard are a perfect match and we
know that the moment we see them together. (We also suspect that Richard’s
formidable mother will approve of Amy.)
There’s talk of this book being turned into a graphic novel, and that
could be a lot of fun too.
