The Scarlet Pimpernel

Baroness Orczy's 1905 adventure gave the world a template that would eventually become Zorro, Batman, and the entire secret-identity superhero tradition. Sir Percy Blakeney plays the fool in English drawing rooms while slipping condemned French nobles out from under the guillotine — and the tension between his public mask and private heroism drives a genuinely suspenseful plot. Marguerite's agonizing choice between loyalty to her husband and a threat against her brother gives the story genuine stakes. The caveats: Orczy's politics are firmly aristocratic, which some readers will find grating, and the prose tips into melodrama in spots. But the heroism is selfless and the marital devotion is moving. A classic adventure that still delivers.