
The story opens on a bustling February day in 1815, when the elegant ship Pharaon glides into the harbor of Marseille. Young Edmond Dantès, a bright‑eyed sailor admired for his competence and loyalty, is poised to take command of the vessel and begin a promising new chapter with his beloved fiancé. Yet the arrival is shadowed by tension: whispers of a recent tragedy aboard, the sudden death of the ship’s captain, and the uneasy mood of the crew hint that something far from ordinary is about to unfold.
Without warning, Edmond is seized by authorities, accused of a crime he never committed, and hauled away to the forbidding Château d’If. In the grim confines of the island prison, he confronts the brutal reality of isolation, but also encounters a learned inmate whose secret knowledge promises a glimmer of hope. As Edmond grapples with betrayal and the harshness of his new world, the foundations of a remarkable transformation begin to take shape.
Language
fi
Duration
~42 hours (2439K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Release date
2014-04-21
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1802–1870
Best known for The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, this wildly popular French storyteller helped define the adventure novel. His life was dramatic too, shaped by family history that reached from France to Saint-Domingue, now Haiti.
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1813–1888
Best known as Alexandre Dumas’s behind-the-scenes collaborator, he helped shape some of the most famous adventure novels of the 19th century. A historian, dramatist, and novelist in his own right, he spent much of his life balancing literary success with a long fight for proper credit.
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