Best known work

• The Scarlet Pimpernel, 1905

Other well known work(s)

• Lady Molly of Scotland Yard, 1910

Genres

• Biography / Autobiography
• Fiction - Novels
• Fiction - Short Stories
• Plays
• Travel Writing / Translation

Nom de plume

Baroness Emma Magdalena, Rosalia Maria Josefa Barbara Orczy, Baroness Emmuska Orczy

Social class

Upper class

Parental background

Descended from Hungarian aristocracy on her father's side of the family.

At publication of best known work

• Age: 40
• Marital status: Married
• Number of children: 1

Physical description

In a 2015 article "The mystery behind the Baroness" Michael Dirda suggests that far from the glamorous image her name evokes, in photographs "she looks more like the family cook - well upholstered" (The New Criterion, Sept 2015). Contemporary interviews with Orczy tend to gloss over her appearance, suggesting that she was largely unremarkable, perhaps even plain in her looks.

Did you know?

Orczy upset her neighbours in the Kentish village where she lived with her habit of driving a phaeton (open carriage) with six horses at full pelt through the narrow country lanes.

Additional information

Orczy's autobiography, Links in the Chain of Life, can be found.