From Publishers Weekly
The French eventually unmasked the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian, famed spies in the Napoleonic wars, but as Harvard graduate student Eloise Kelly discovers at the start of this breezy historical romance, the identity of the Pink Carnation remains a mystery. Working in London on her history dissertation, Eloise gets access to a trunk of papers and documents from the early 19th century. She dives into this treasure trove, and suddenly the reader is plunged into a novel within a novel, told from the viewpoint of Amy Balcourt. Amy, exiled to rural England with her mother, now wants to avenge, with the help of her cousin Jane, her father's death at the hands of the French. She hopes to be in league with the Scarlet Pimpernel, who heroically tried to save her father. Willig, a Harvard graduate student herself, does a good job painting a picture of the tumultuous era. She also makes the sparks fly between Amy and the Purple Gentian, a dashing English nobleman in charge of Egyptian antiquities for Bonaparte. But when the Pink Carnation's identity is finally revealed after many obvious clues, the reader wonders why it took Eloise so long to get it. More critically, Eloise's appearances come to seem like awkward intrusions into Amy's - and the Pink Carnation's - more intriguing story. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Willig's imaginative debut is the story of Eloise Kelly, who is trying to uncover the identity of the Pink Carnation, a British spy a la the Scarlet Pimpernel who infiltrated Napoleonic France, for her Ph.D. dissertation. But it is also the story of Amy Balcourt, a young woman of French descent raised in England, whom Eloise learns about when she gains access to the papers kept by Arabella Selwick-Alderly, the descendant of another dashing spy, the Purple Gentian. Amy sets off to join her brother, Edouard, in France, with the hope of joining the league of the Purple Gentian. On her journey over she meets Lord Richard Selwick, the Purple Gentian himself, and though sparks fly between the two, he feels he can't reveal his secret identity to her. Eloise is engrossed in Amy's story, even as Arabella's infuriating but handsome nephew, Colin Selwick, tries to bar her access to the papers. Readers should expect more of the swashbuckling past than the scholarly present, but Willig's story is a decidedly delightful romp. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Mary Balogh, author of Slightly Dangerous
A merry romp with never a dull moment!

Book Description
Deciding that true romantic heroes are a thing of the past, Eloise Kelly, an intelligent American who always manages to wear her Jimmy Choo suede boots on the day it rains, leaves Harvard’s Widener Library bound for England to finish her dissertation on the dashing pair of spies the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian. What she discovers is something the finest historians have missed: a secret history that begins with a letter dated 1803. Eloise has found the secret history of the Pink Carnation—the most elusive spy of all time, the spy who single-handedly saved England from Napoleon’s invasion. The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, a wildly imaginative and highly adventurous debut, opens with the story of a modern-day heroine but soon becomes a book within a book. Eloise Kelly settles in to read the secret history hoping to unmask the Pink Carnation’s identity, but before she can make this discovery, she uncovers a passionate romance within the pages of the secret history that almost threw off the course of world events. How did the Pink Carnation save England? What became of the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian? And will Eloise Kelly find a hero of her own?

About the Author
Yale graduate Lauren Willig, twenty-six, is currently a law student and Ph.D. candidate in history at Harvard University. Originally from New York, she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she is now at work on a second Pink Carnation novel.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
Lauren Willig hits the ground running in a highly entertaining debut novel that romps between centuries and offers a swashbuckling mix of romance, swordplay, espionage, and historical sleuthing. It starts with Eloise Kelly, an American graduate student determined to study abroad and solve the mystery of the Pink Carnation, the successor to the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian. A chance discovery of the Selwick family archives launches her into the middle of a true story in 1803, where two spirited cousins, Amy and Jane, resolve to return to France to join forces with the Purple Gentian and spy for Britain against Napoleon. As it turns out, they are accompanied to Calais by the real Purple Gentian, and complications, disguises, romance, and danger ensue. The author, a Ph.D. candidate in the Harvard History Department, uses her love of English history and historical fiction to great advantage. Ginger Curwen

FROM THE PUBLISHER

￯﾿ﾽThis genre-bending read—a dash of chick-lit with a historical twist—has it all:romance, mystery, and adventure.￯﾿ﾽ —Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries

Deciding that true romantic heroes are a thing of the past, Eloise Kelly, an intelligent American who always manages to wear her Jimmy Choo suede boots on the day it rains, leaves Harvard's Widener Library bound for England to finish her dissertation on the dashing pair of spies the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian. What she discovers is something the finest historians have missed: a secret history that begins with a letter dated 1803. Eloise has found the secret history of the Pink Carnation—the most elusive spy of all time, the spy who single-handedly saved England from Napoleon's invasion.

The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, a wildly imaginative and highly adventurous debut, opens with the story of a modern-day heroine but soon becomes a book within a book. Eloise Kelly settles in to read the secret history hoping to unmask the Pink Carnation's identity, but before she can make this discovery, she uncovers a passionate romance within the pages of the secret history that almost threw off the course of world events. How did the Pink Carnation save England? What became of the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian? And will Eloise Kelly find a hero of her own?

Author Biography: Yale graduate Lauren Willig, twenty-six, is currently a law student and Ph.D. candidate in history at Harvard University. Originally from New York, she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she is now at work on a second Pink Carnation novel.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The French eventually unmasked the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian, famed spies in the Napoleonic wars, but as Harvard graduate student Eloise Kelly discovers at the start of this breezy historical romance, the identity of the Pink Carnation remains a mystery. Working in London on her history dissertation, Eloise gets access to a trunk of papers and documents from the early 19th century. She dives into this treasure trove, and suddenly the reader is plunged into a novel within a novel, told from the viewpoint of Amy Balcourt. Amy, exiled to rural England with her mother, now wants to avenge, with the help of her cousin Jane, her father's death at the hands of the French. She hopes to be in league with the Scarlet Pimpernel, who heroically tried to save her father. Willig, a Harvard graduate student herself, does a good job painting a picture of the tumultuous era. She also makes the sparks fly between Amy and the Purple Gentian, a dashing English nobleman in charge of Egyptian antiquities for Bonaparte. But when the Pink Carnation's identity is finally revealed after many obvious clues, the reader wonders why it took Eloise so long to get it. More critically, Eloise's appearances come to seem like awkward intrusions into Amy's-and the Pink Carnation's-more intriguing story. Agent, Joe Veltre. (Feb. 7) Forecast: Misleading chick lit-style packaging doesn't do Willig's debut-essentially a conventional historical romance-any favors. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Eloise Kelly is an American graduate student in London working on a dissertation about two legendary English spies, the Scarlet Pimpernel and the Purple Gentian. When she is invited to view some private papers of an old noble family, she never guesses she will find a story beyond what she had hoped for or a rude but handsome man bent on keeping his family's history private. As Eloise reads the letters and diaries, she is swept back to 1803. Longing for adventure, half-English, half-French Amy Balcourt is thrilled when her brother invites her to stay in Paris. She is determined to join the League of the Purple Gentian in order to help topple Napoleon and avenge her father's demise at the guillotine. On the Channel crossing, Amy meets handsome and scholarly Lord Richard Selwick, Napoloeon's director of Egyptian antiquities. Little does she guess that this man, whom she despises, has another, more alluring identity. Willig, a history Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University, has an ear for quick wit and an eye for detail. Her fiction debut is chock-full of romance, sexual tension, espionage, adventure, and humor. Strongly recommended for popular fiction and romance collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 10/1/04; see also the Q&A with Willig, p. 52.-Ed.]-Anna M. Nelson, Seabrook Lib., NH Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews