The Count of Monte Cristo
SynopsisPlot
Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration
Story
About this book
Edmond Dantes is a young sailor in Marseille whose life collapses on the day of his planned wedding. Accused of a crime he did not commit, he is arrested and locked away in the Chateau d'If, a fortress on a small island in the bay of Marseille. Years pass in near-total isolation before a chance encounter with a fellow prisoner changes his fate. From this man he learns of a vast treasure concealed on the Isle of Monte Cristo, and the knowledge reshapes his purpose entirely.
After escaping and recovering the fortune, Dantes remakes himself as the wealthy and mysterious Count of Monte Cristo. He returns to French society with a single aim: to bring ruin upon the three men who engineered his imprisonment. The story follows his elaborate plans as he moves through the salons and financial networks of Paris, manipulating events while concealing his true identity from former friends and enemies alike.
Alexandre Dumas first published the novel as a serial in France during the 1840s, and it drew a large readership from the start. The plot was partly inspired by a real case of wrongful imprisonment that Dumas encountered in police archives. The story is set across Mediterranean locations including Marseille, Rome, and Paris.
