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Summary
Summary
" Pride and Prejudice lives on" ( USA Today ) in Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation series, which has been hailed for its addictive blend of history, romance, and adventure. In The Orchid Affair , Willig introduces her strongest heroine yet. Laura Grey, a veteran governess, joins the Selwick Spy School expecting to find elaborate disguises and thrilling exploits in service to the spy known as the Pink Carnation. She hardly expects her first assignment to be serving as governess for the children of Andre Jaouen, right-hand man to Bonaparte's minister of police. Jaouen and his arch rival, Gaston Delaroche, are investigating a suspected Royalist plot to unseat Bonaparte, and Laura's mission is to report any suspicious findings.
At first the job is as lively as Latin textbooks and knitting, but Laura begins to notice strange behavior from Jaouen-secret meetings and odd comings and goings. As Laura edges herself closer to her employer, she makes a shocking discovery and is surprised to learn that she has far more in common with Jaouen than she originally thought...
As their plots begin to unravel, Laura and Jaouen are forced on the run with the children, and with the help of the Pink Carnation they escape to the countryside, traveling as husband and wife. But Delaroche will stop at nothing to take down his nemesis. With his men hot on their trail, can Laura and Jaouen seal the fate of Europe before it's too late?
Author Notes
Lauren Willig majored in renaissance studies and political science at Yale University, studied English history at Harvard University, and received a J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. She started writing the Pink Carnation series during law school. She practiced as a litigation associate at a large New York law firm for a year and a half before deciding to become a full-time writer.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (3)
Kirkus Review
Espionage and romance continue to be great fun in another solid installment of the Pink Carnation series.In her eighth series adventure, Willig (The Mischief of the Mistletoe, 2010, etc) takes a cue from Jane Eyre, presenting an orphaned governess as her latest heroine and, of course, spy. Miss Laura Grey has learned to hide her voluptuous beauty under a stern schoolmistress's guise. But when an opportunity to break out of her rut appears, she grabs it, landing an assignment that uses her real history as a governess to strike a blow for England in the ongoing Napoleonic wars. Assuming the French identity of her father and placed in charge of the children of the widowed revolutionary Andr Jaouen, Lauranow Laure Griscognediscovers the Paris of her childhood has become a grim and fearful place. When an old family acquaintance nearly blows her cover, however, she begins to see a different side of her employerand he of her. Although he apparently works at the Prefecture of Paris hunting enemies of the state, Jaouen has grown dismayed by the Reign of Terror, and the two may actually be on the same side. On the run, they learn to trust each other in order to not only survive but to protect his innocent children. The action builds up to an utterly predictable but enjoyable climax. Thanks to Willig's customary wit and sure hand with historical details, 19th-century France comes alive yet again in this volume. Laura is a solid heroine, headstrong and mature enough to be believable. And if the charged romance between the two is a little clichd, readers of the series will hardly care. Only the series' contemporary framing device, featuring a Harvard researcher and her boyfriend, seems a little strained, but it takes up little space in this otherwise fast-paced and fun frolic.Willig's sparkling series continues to elevate the Regency romance genre.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Hot on the heels of The Mischief of the Mistletoe (2010), Willig's engaging spy series continues with an adventure set in Napoleonic France. Fresh out of spy school, Laura Grey has been dubbed the Silver Orchid and sent to France to be a governess to the children of Andre Jaouen, the deputy minister of police. It is up to Laura to discover if Jaouen and the sinister inspector Gaston Delaroche are about to thwart a Royalist plot to put a prince of royal blood back on the throne. Working with the legendary spy known as the Pink Carnation, Laura is surprised to uncover where Jaouen's loyalties truly lie when a respected artist, Antoine Daubier, is arrested by the dastardly Delaroche. After rescuing Daubier and being forced to flee France with him and the royal heir, Laura and Andre pose as a married couple in a troupe of actors and find themselves battling their powerful feelings for each other. Another delightfully delectable adventure from Willig, who expands her rich, appealing stable of characters with each entry.--Huntley, Kristine Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
In 1804, governess Laura Grey has returned home to Paris after almost a decade in England. Learning rudimentary espionage skills at Selwick Hall has provided Laura with a code name, Silver Orchid; an alias, Laure Griscogne; and a mission, to become governess for Andre Jaouen's two motherless children. Jaouen's high-ranking position in government makes him among the first to hear of suspicious people or activities, allowing his new governess access to the same information. It's a tangled web of deception and double-crosses, needing only one unexpected event for all the intricate plotting to begin to unravel and all are left vulnerable. This supremely nerve-wracking, sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat, can't-sleep-until-everyone-is-safe read is the eighth fabulous entry in Willig's popular Pink Carnation series (e.g., The Betrayal of the Blood Lily). It successfully upholds the author's tradition of providing charming three-dimensional characters, lively action, witty dialog, and a continuous contemporary story line that enhances the events happening in the past. As a bonus, readers view the aftermath of the French Revolution through individual viewpoints, and chaotic events of history become more focused and relatable. Verdict Fans of historical fiction, adventure, romance, and fine storytelling will savor every page, maybe even twice. [Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/10.]-Stacey Hayman, Rocky River P.L., OH (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
