For thirty days this year and every year, you can read my latest novel The Fountain in the Forest in synch with the French Republican Calendar. Conversion between the Republican and Gregorian Calendars is imprecise, but by common reckoning today’s date 7 March 2020 converts to Octidi 18 Ventôse CCXXVIII in the Revolutionary Calendar. Factoring in Fabre d’Eglantine’s system of everyday rural imagery, 18 Ventôse 228 and Chapter 6 of the novel are dedicated to the Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis), a weed that is toxic to many animals and livestock but traditionally had several applications in folk medicine.
By Sannse, CC BY-SA 3.0
The pimpernel is best known in popular culture for its use as the signature calling card of Sir Percy Blakeney in the Scarlet Pimpernel play (1903) and series of novels (1905 onwards) by Baroness Emmuska Orczy de Orci, which are set in the era of the French Revolution.
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Read the Project Gutenberg ebook of The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy de Orci
The Fountain in the Forest was a Guardian ‘Book of the Day’ – read Sukhdev Sandhu’s review
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