Sabatini, and the couple stayed together). They were apparently not married when Rafael was born, which is reflected in the parentage of the protagonist of Scaramouche, though they may have married later (Anna referred to herself as Mrs. He was born in Italy to two opera singers, an Englishwoman (Anna Trafford) and an Italian (Vincenzo Sabatini). Rafael Sabatini (1875-1950) had an interesting life. (I should add that The Sea Hawk is NOT the source material for the Errol Flynn movie of that title.) None of those three novels have the reputation of Scaramouche (though The Sea Hawk still has readers). Sabatini did appear on the list in 1923 (with The Sea Hawk, first published in 1915), in 1924 ( Mistress Wilding, from 1910), and in 1925 ( The Carolinian, from 1924). That said, it does not appear in the Publishers' Weekly list of the ten bestselling novels of 1921. I concede this of course - but the collective title of my review series is "Old Bestsellers", and Scaramouche was indeed a bestseller, nigh on a hundred years ago - at least, it is routinely described in such terms as "runaway bestseller" and it has been filmed at least twice, in 1923 and in 1952. I will begin with a disclaimer aimed at those who have navigated here from Patti Abbott's Friday's Forgotten Books page, who may complain that Scaramouche is hardly forgotten.
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