Practice Annotation - The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

Author: Lauren Willig

Title: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation

ASIN: 0525948600

Genre: Adult Fiction; Adventure Stories; Georgian Romances; Love Stories; Novels-within-novels; Parallel Narratives; Sensual Historical Romances; Spy Fiction; Suspense Stories

Publication Date: February 2005

Number of Pages: 384p

Other Formats: eBook

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Geographical Setting: London, England; France

Time Period: Napoleonic Wars, 1800-1815; 21^st century; The Georgian Era; 19^th century

Series: Pink Carnation (Book 1)

Plot summary:

American graduate student Eloise Kelly is conducting research in England for her dissertation on the histories and identities of three famous spies from the Napoleonic wars, The Pink Carnation, The Purple Gentian and The Scarlet Pimpernel, when she meets several members of the Selwick family, who are the owners of enlightening documents detailing the life of miss Amy Balcourt, a young English woman originally from France. The letters and journals detail Amy’s adventures as she attempts to seek out the help of, and join the spy known as the Purple Gentian in order to avenge her father’s death. Upon her quest, she encounters Lord Richard Selwick, an ancestor of the contemporary Colin Selwick, and romance and mysteries ensue for both couples throughout time. The sub-plot and secondary characters, including that of Amy’s cousin, Jane Wooliston, are important to subsequent books in the series.  

Appeal

Pacing: Fast-Paced

Story: Plot-Driven

Characters: Quirky; Women Graduate Students; Spies; Triangles (Interpersonal Relations); Secret Identities; Women Spies; Americans in England

Setting: Detailed; Vivid. Napoleonic Wars; Contemporary (Present-Day) England

Language: Narrative

Tone: Steamy; Suspenseful

Graphic Meter: Medium (some scenes of a sexual nature and mild violence)

Framing: 20^th century first-person narrative

Writing Style: Descriptive

Dewey: 813.6

Subjects: Women graduate students -- Fiction
Women historians -- Fiction
Paris (France) -- History -- 19th century -- Fiction

Read-alikes: 

Fiction 

A Discover of Witches (Deborah Harkness)

The Scarlet Pimpernel (Emmuska Orczy)

Portrait of a Spy (Daniel Silva)

An Improper Proposal (Patricia Cabot)

Nonfiction

Napoleon: Life, Legacy, and Image: A Biography (Alan Forrest)

How Paris Became Paris: The Invention of the Modern City (Joan E. DeJean)

The Wolves at the Door: The True Story of America's Greatest Female Spy (Judith Pearson

Next Book in the Series: The Masque of the Black Tulip

Read a Preview Here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=aDM2pwsV5_AC&pg=PT391&lpg=PT391&dq=The+Secret+History+of+the+Pink+Carnation&source=bl&ots=DiqAmth0lV&sig=Pr8erb25XL2OrFlvguleUu3i9Jc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Mm3kUoqxEKrLsASWzYHAAQ&ved=0CFYQ6AEwBTgK#v=onepage&q&f=false

Read User Reviews from GoodReads:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/84351.The_Secret_History_of_the_Pink_Carnation