Written by Lauren Willig, The Secret History of the Pink Carnation is all about learning who a (fictional) English Spy in France during the early 1800’s was. And so we have the lovely duel timelines, following Amy and Richard in the early 1800’s and Eloise in the present day.
Things to know: the spies have odd nick names as their screen they hide behind, and while a number are known in the present day, as they were unmasked (gasp), but the Pink Carnation is not one of them. Eloise is a history major who is writing a dissertation on the old spies and trying to find out who the Pink Carnation is. In this effort, she has hunted down the decedents of the unmasked spies to ask to read any old letters etc they might have in the family that have been passed down the last 200 years.
The first novel in a series, this is very much a book in which old and new styles of writing meet; and it works so well. Willig has written a novel that propels the reader forward, and honestly doesn’t feel like it is almost 400 pages long. One thing that I really enjoyed, that very few novels seem to do, is that the past story was told from multiple perspectives, but it would switch between them often paragraph to paragraph very flawlessly. Which is something that others might find very annoying.
A romance and adventure novel, this is NOT appropriate for children, but honestly was just really good and interesting. The plot was good, and I adore Richard.
To the characters. We will start with the first one we meet, Eloise. I really like Eloise, even though you really don’t see much interaction with her throughout the novel, as most of it is written in a form to combine all of the letters and journals she is reading through to learn who the Pink Carnation is. She is sassy and very modern in all of the best ways. I was not a fan of Amy, the stereotypical over-the-top Edwardian woman. Doesn’t actually plan things out, flies by her skirt, and in general just gets into the oddest situations. Richard I loved. He was wonderful, and I only liked Amy through his eyes. The supporting characters, whom I will not go into detail about, I really enjoyed. But, no spoilers.
If you like romance novels, and don’t need hot and heavy all of the time, this is a good book. There are maybe 5 pages of hot and heavy, other than that it is all pretty tame. The spy aspect was very entertaining, however the characterization of the characters some might find annoying. A lot of them of flighty/absentminded. Just a fair warning.
This reader highly enjoyed this novel, and will be continuing on with the series.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
