The Scarlet Pimpernel

from the diary: “Saturday 8/8/87

“All I’ve done t’day’s been sleep, read the free SF Examiner I’ve been receiving as part of a promotion, fix dinner, wash dishes, watch King Kong versus Godzilla, and read The Scarlet Pimpernel. It’s a fun book, but I guffaw upon bumping into lines like, ‘It was terrible to see a young and beautiful woman – a girl in all but name – still standing almost at the threshold of her life, yet bereft of hope, bereft of illusions, bereft of those golden and fantastic dreams which should have made her youth one long, perpetual holiday.’ What’s the problem? Her rich husband no longer loves her.”

So far as I’d experienced it, “youth” had little relation to “one long, perpetual holiday”. Some holidays are more perpetual than others.

Hafta confess I was surprised to come upon mention of The Scarlet Pimpernel. I thought it one of the many books I have yet to read.

Not long before she died, Kent says, his mother wondered if there were any sequels to The Scarlet Pimpernel. He says he’d never heard her talk about the book before. When he was going through her things later he found Pimpernel and decided to read it.