The emperor's candlesticks

"The Emperor's Candlesticks" by Baroness Emmuska Orczy is a historical novel likely written in the late 19th century. The story unfolds against the vibrant backdrop of carnival celebrations in Vienna, where intertwined lives of nobility and hidden agendas emerge, focusing on a plot involving the Tsarevitch Nicholas Alexandrovitch. The novel explores themes of intrigue and romance as Nicholas becomes entangled with a mysterious odalisque, setting off a chain of events that reveals the darker elements of the world he inhabits. At the start of the narrative, we find ourselves in the midst of a luxurious opera ball in Vienna during Shrove Tuesday, filled with revelry before Lent. The Tsarevitch, disguised in a black domino, pursues a captivating odalisque through the dance and excitement, prompting a mysterious abduction. As the evening progresses, it becomes clear that his disappearance is not just a light-hearted escapade but part of a larger, more sinister plot involving secretive political motivations. Simultaneously, other characters with agendas are introduced, hinting at a complex web of conspiracies awaiting resolution as the story unfolds. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Baroness Emma Orczy, usually known as Baroness Orczy or to her family and friends as Emmuska Orczy, was a Hungarian-born British novelist and playwright. She is best known for her series of novels featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel, the alter ego of Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy English fop who turns into a quick-thinking escape artist in order to save French aristocrats from "Madame Guillotine" during the French Revolution, establishing the "hero with a secret identity" in popular culture.