Eloise has come to Britain to track down the true identity of the Pink Carnation, a British agent who worked against Napoleon to gain important information about his war effort against Britain. Her search leads her to the Selwick family and she is given access to the diaries of Amy Balcourt, a young French woman who was sent to England as a child to save her life during the years of the French Revolution, when many of the nobility were put to death, including Amy's and her brother's parents. But her brother is now at home in Napoleon's court and Amy is traveling to France to join him. Amy is just as obsessed with discovering who the Purple Gentian, a famous British spy, was as modern-day sleuth Eloise is to discovering who the Pink Carnation was.
The story mainly centers on Amy and her adventures in France trying to track down and discover the identity of the Purple Gentian, who she desperately wants to join in the fight against Napoleon's ambition to rule the world. Meanwhile, the Purple Gentian is right under her nose. Richard Selwick, is a scholar and antiquities expert who has been advising Napoleon on some of the artifacts that have been brought to France from Egypt. Amy has written him off as a traitor to his country, not realizing Richard is using his position in Napoleon's court to gather intelligence for England and that he is the Purple Gentian, the famous English spy and the most wanted man in all of France.
This was an fair read, a bit silly and the subplot about Eloise too clearly the lead-in to a sequel. One thing I did appreciate was it was not a graphic story with explicit descriptions of sex acts. If that's what you are looking for in a romance, you won't find it in this story.
Here is a review by Kirkus Reviews.
No comments:
Post a Comment