So much of the DNA of this book remains threaded throughout modern fiction it’s become almost invisible. Sir Percy Blakeney is a cultured, ostensibly weak English nobleman during The Terror, a time in revolutionary France when the government allowed and encouraged mob violence against the aristocrats of the ancien régime. Hiding behind a mask, Blakeney becomes the Scarlet Pimpernel, using his fighting skills and quick wit to rescue his fellow nobles—with style.