{"id":12310,"date":"2019-12-07T18:50:57","date_gmt":"2019-12-07T23:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=12310"},"modified":"2021-12-15T21:44:23","modified_gmt":"2021-12-16T02:44:23","slug":"the-secret-history-of-the-pink-carnation-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12310","title":{"rendered":"The Secret History of the Pink Carnation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation<\/a><\/em> (2005) Lauren Willig<\/a><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Set in England and France in 1803.<\/p>\n

I knew I’d read this before, but after checking, it was 2010, so I can be forgiving for remembering next to nothing about the story.<\/p>\n

Amy’s father was killed during the Revolution, and her English mother died of grief soon after. So from a small age she wanted little more than to avenge the deaths of her parents, and came up with many interesting ways to do so.<\/p>\n

It was Jane who figured out how to rub soot and gum on teeth to make them look like those of a desiccated old hag\u2014 and then how to rub it all off again before Nanny saw. It was Jane who plotted a route to France on the nursery globe and Jane who discovered a way to creep down the back stairs without making them creak.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When Amy’s brother invites her to return to France and join in, she eagerly takes up the offer, hoping to join the revolutionary, The Purple Gentian, and overthrow the government.<\/p>\n

But the Purple Gentian doesn’t want to deal with young women–he just wants to discover Napoleon’s plans for invading England, and put a stop to them.<\/p>\n

Except that perhaps he might be a tiny bit interested in one specific young woman. <\/p>\n

Maybe.<\/p>\n

But he probably shouldn’t be.<\/p>\n

What I’d forgotten in the intervening years was that this story was lighthearted and somewhat silly.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally, indeed,\u201d echoed Richard, looking quite impressed. That one comment about the reproductive habits of camels had been quite original. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is ridiculous!\u201d Amy exclaimed. <\/p>\n

\u201cI quite agree.\u201d Thump! \u201cTo refer to an innocent camel in that salacious way\u2014\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not that there is anything wrong with ridiculous–it’s fine–I just had it in my head that it was a slightly different kind of story, so the silliness was unexpected and took me aback initially. Mostly because that wasn’t quite what I was in the mood for.<\/p>\n

The other thing this story does is switch between a “current day” narrative, and the past. The majority of the book is set in the past, telling of the adventures of Richard and Amy and everyone else, but there are parts in the modern day, and those part I like less well–partially because of this:<\/p>\n

SPOILER (but this book is 15 years old, so I’m not hiding)<\/p>\n

I should have known. I should have expected. But who would ever have imagined that the Pink Carnation could be a woman?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Umm… anyone?<\/p>\n

How could I have missed it? As a scholar, how could I have been so careless? That stung, that my preconceptions had so blinded me to the truth of what I was reading. What kind of a historian was I, blundering along blindfolded by my own imagination?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We never get the answer to this. Because this was written in 2005, not 1950, so the modern character not even considering that the spy might have been a woman is… annoying? Frustrating? Something anyway.<\/p>\n

I do have the second book (I’ve picked up several books on sale) so I’ll probably read it, but when I’m in the mood for something lighter.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Berkley
\nRating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (2005) Lauren Willig Set in England and France in 1803. I knew I’d read this before, but after checking, it was 2010, so I can be forgiving for remembering next to nothing about the story. Amy’s father was killed during the Revolution, and her English mother died of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[30,48,204,33,8,41,26,56],"tags":[547],"class_list":["post-12310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-british","category-female","category-good","category-historical","category-mystery","category-reread","category-romance","category-sexual-content","tag-napoleonic-era"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-3cy","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2035,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/2035","url_meta":{"origin":12310,"position":0},"title":"The Secret History of the Pink Carnation","author":"Michelle","date":"November 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (2005) Lauren Willig Parts of this story I absolutely loved--Spies! Napoleonic France! Daring women! And did I mention spies! Other parts of the story I liked less well. It is a story within a story--an historian gets access to letters and diaries that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/secret-history-pink-carnation.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4800,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4800","url_meta":{"origin":12310,"position":1},"title":"The Heiress Effect","author":"Michelle","date":"August 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Heiress Effect (2013) Courtney Milan The is book two of the Brothers Sinister trilogy, and the second book I read, however, I started with book three. So, backwards. Miss Jane Fairfield is a wealthy heiress who is supposedly seeking a husband, however, she's doing everything she possible can to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The-Heiress-Effect","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/The-Heiress-Effect.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12884,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12884","url_meta":{"origin":12310,"position":2},"title":"They Do It With Mirrors","author":"Michelle","date":"May 22, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"They Do It With Mirrors (1952) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) When asked by an old school friend, Miss Marple visits Stoneygates to check that everything is fine with her friend Carrie Louise. \u201cMe?\u201d exclaimed Miss Marple. \u201cWhy me?\u201d \u201cBecause you\u2019ve got a nose for that sort of thing. You always\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"They Do It With Mirrors","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/They-Do-It-With-Mirrors.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21112,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21112","url_meta":{"origin":12310,"position":3},"title":"They Do It With Mirrors","author":"Michelle","date":"May 29, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"They Do It With Mirrors (1952) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple) Something about this book has never quite worked for me. I never quite feel I have a handle on anything, and some of the characters melt into each other. The mystery itself is interesting, but getting to the solution just\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"They Do It With Mirrors","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/They-Do-It-With-Mirrors.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5699,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/5699","url_meta":{"origin":12310,"position":4},"title":"The Heiress Effect","author":"Michelle","date":"February 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The Heiress Effect (2013) Courtney Milan Set in England in 1867. This is another good book, but also not quite as good as The Countess Conspiracy. But it was good. \u201cIs it something I said?\u201d Jane asked. And if so, which sentence? Oliver makes many mistakes, but you know he's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The-Heiress-Effect","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/The-Heiress-Effect.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24636,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24636","url_meta":{"origin":12310,"position":5},"title":"They Do It With Mirrors","author":"Michelle","date":"June 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"They Do It With Mirrors (1952) Agatha Christie (Miss Marple, #6) Everyone\u2019s life has a tempo. Ruth\u2019s was presto whereas Miss Marple\u2019s was content to be adagio. 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