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Secret agent Augustus Whittlesby has spent a decade undercover in France, posing as an insufferably bad poet. The French surveillance officers can't bear to read his work closely enough to recognize the information drowned in a sea of verbiage.
New York-born Emma Morris Delagardie is a thorn in Augustus's side. An old school friend of Napoleon's stepdaughter, she came to France with her uncle, the American envoy; eloped with a Frenchman; and has been rattling around the salons of Paris ever since. Widowed for four years, she entertains herself by drinking too much champagne, holding a weekly salon, and loudly critiquing Augustus's poetry.
As Napoleon pursues his plans for the invasion of England, Whittlesby hears of a top-secret device to be demonstrated at a house party at Malmaison. The catch? The only way in is with Emma, who has been asked to write a masque for the weekend's entertainment.
Emma is at a crossroads: Should she return to the States or remain in France? She'll do anything to postpone the decision-even if it means teaming up with that silly poet Whittlesby to write a masque for Bonaparte's house party. But each soon learns that surface appearances are misleading. In this complicated masque within a masque, nothing goes quite as scripted—especially Augustus's feelings for Emma.
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Release date
February 21, 2012 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780307989956
- File size: 418250 KB
- Duration: 14:31:21
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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December 5, 2011
The latest entry in Willig’s Pink Carnation series (after The Secret History of the Pink Carnation) finds Napoleon-era secret agent Augustus Whittlesby hiding his communiqués to the English in his insipid poetry. The young American widow Emma Delagardie covers sadness and intellect with a flirtatious gaiety. Her weekly salon, where Augustus’s work is enthusiastically critiqued, is famous. And Jane Wooliston is a friend to them both, and also the Pink Carnation, another British spy. Whittlesby learns of Napoleon’s plans to reveal a secret weapon at a lavish celebration and, by collaborating with Emma and Jane on a play for the event, gets a glimpse of what he believes to be a steamship. In fact, it is something more sinister, an invention that could greatly help Napoleon to invade England. Whittlesby isn’t the only one interested in the secret; a former lover of Delagardie is intent on selling the plans to the highest bidder. Whittlesby steals them first, but his feelings for Delagardie compromise his mission and force her to make a difficult choice. This time Willig sends Wooliston to the wings to focus on new spies and familiar contemporary characters (a researcher and her lover frame the tale). Whittlesby’s poetry is indeed laughably bad, but Delagardie is only mildly interesting, Napoleon appears rarely, the ex-lover lacks menace, and the double-cross is telegraphed. Even fans of the series won’t find much to engage with this time. Agent: Joe Veltre, the Gersh Agency.
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