The Count of Monte Cristo [Paperback]

A tale of love and revenge in the post-Napoleonic era. Edmond Dantes, a nineteen-year-old sailor from Marseilles, is soon to be captain of his own ship and to marry his beloved, the beautiful Mercedes. But spiteful enemies provoke his arrest on his wedding day, and he is condemned to life in prison. His sole companion is the 'crazy' priest Faria, who shares with Edmond a secret escape plan, and a map to hidden riches on the island of Monte Cristo. When Faria dies, Edmond attempts the incredible escape alone. finally he is free and rich beyond imagination after 14 years in prison. Keeping his true identity a secret, he enters society as Count of Monte Cristo, a polite, refined nobleman determined to reclaim his lost love, and to avenge his accusers. This is a story of suspense, intrigue, love and the triumph of good over evil.“A piece of perfect storytelling.”—Robert Louis StevensonAlexander Dumas was born in 1802 at Villes-Cotterets. He received very little education but when he entered the household of the future king, Louis-Philippe, he began to read veraciously and then to write. In 1839 he began writing novels dealing with the wars of religion and the Revolution, but he is most remembered for his historical novels, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.Chapter I

ON FEBRUARY 24, 1815, the watchtower at Marseilles signaled the arrival of the three-master Pharaon, coming from Smyrna, Trieste and Naples.

The quay was soon covered with the usual crowd of curious onlookers, for the arrival of a ship is always a great event in Marseilles, especially when, like the Pharaon, it has been built, rigged and laden in the city and belongs to a local shipowner.

Meanwhile the vessel was approaching the harbor under topsails, jib and foresail, but so slowly and with such an air of melancholy that the onlookers, instinctively sensing misfortune, began to wonder what accident could have happened on board. However, the expelN