Baroness Orczy

Biography

Baroness Emmuska Orczy (1865–1947) was a Hungarian-born British novelist and playwright, best known as the creator of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Born Baroness Emma Magdolna Rozália Mária Jozefa Borbála Orczy de Orci in Tarnaörs, Hungary, she moved to London as a teenager. She first introduced Sir Percy Blakeney — the Scarlet Pimpernel — in a play (1903) and novel (1905). The Scarlet Pimpernel is an English aristocrat who leads a secret double life, rescuing French nobles from the guillotine during the Reign of Terror while posing as a foolish dandy. The character is considered the prototype of the modern superhero with a secret identity, predating Zorro and Batman. Orczy wrote over a dozen Pimpernel sequels plus detective fiction featuring the "Old Man in the Corner," an armchair detective. Her adventure novels combine romance, historical drama, and daring escapes.