“The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre Dumas

Written by Alexandre Dumas as an 18-part serialization, The Count of Monte Cristo (1844) is one of the greatest classics of world literature. Based on the true story of François Picaud, a Parisian shoemaker who in 1807 was accused by four envious friends of spying for the English, the novel tells the story of Edmond Dantès. Unjustly imprisoned as a result of a conspiracy prompted by jealousy, when released he pulls all the strings to take revenge, embarking on a long journey in search of the culprits. 

Alexandre Dumas (Villers-Cotterêts, 1802-Puys, 1870), son of a general who died when the boy was just three, received limited schooling due to the family’s scant resources and his literary training was completely self-taught. He began working as a notarial assistant and, with his friend Viscount Adolphe Irving of Leuven, wrote his first plays in the mid-1820s. Two decades later, he turned to the historical adventure and horror novel, becoming one of the most famous, widely read and prolific novelists of the 19^th century (he published some 300 works), with such suggestive skill that his success has continued to the present day.