It is the year 1627, and young d'Artagnan comes to Paris with a dream to become a King's Musketeer. Three of these brave soldiers Porthos, Athos and Aramis soon become his friends. After a short time d'Artagnan has fallen in love and into great danger. Can the three musketeers and d'Artagnan fight against the evil plans of the beautiful Milady and the cruel Cardinal Richelieu?

Le lecteur des Trois Mousquetaires retrouvera dans Vingt ans apres ses heros favoris: Athos, Porthos, Aramis, ainsi que le gai, lucide et subtil d'Artagnan. La Fronde et la Revolution d'Angleterre servent de cadre a leurs exploits, qui les mettent aux prises avec Mazarin et avec Cromwell. Roman historique ou roman de cape et d'epee? La trilogie des Mousquetaires concilie heureusement les exigences des deux genres. La presente edition, annotee avec soin, souligne la dette de Dumas envers les memorialistes et les historiens et atteste la solidite de son information. Sur des donnees authentiques, qu'il redistribue a sa guise, le narrateur brode un recit plein d'incroyables peripeties, dont la structure et les themes sont ceux de l'epopee et du conte, mais qu'il assaisonne d'humour. Venant a la suite des Trois Mousquetaires, Vingt ans apres, moins simple, moins romanesque aussi, s'en distingue par une peinture plus diversifiee de la societe, une psychologie plus nuancee, une morale plus desenchantee. C'est dire la pluralite de lectures possibles, et que chacun у trouvera son plaisir.

Louise de la Balliere is the middle section of The Vicomte de Bragelonne or, Ten Years After. Against a tender love story, Dumas continues the suspense which began with The Vicomte de Bragelonne and will end with The Man in the Iron Mask. It is early summer, 1661, and the royal court of France is in turmoil. Can it be true that the King is in love with the Duchess d'Orleans? Or has his eye been caught by the sweet and gentle Louise de la Valliere? No one is more anxious to know the answer than Raoul, son of Athos, who loves Louise more than life itself. Behind the scenes, dark intrigues are afoot. Louis XIV is intent on making himself absolute master of France. Imminent crisis shakes the now aging Musketeers and d'Artagnan out of their complacent retirement, but is the cause just? This new edition of the classic English translation of 1857 is richly annotated and sets Dumas's invigorating tale in its historical and cultural context.

One of France's best-selling writers at the time of the novel's composition, Dumas here combines what he considered to be life's essentials — l'action et l'amour. This historical romance is the climax of his epic of chivalry and valour that began with The Three Musketeers, and it is here that Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and their friend d'Artagnan, once invincible, meet their destinies. This edition provides background information and notes crucial to an understanding of the legend and the novel's setting.

A swashbuckling novel by the author of The Three Musketeers Set in the same period as his best-known novel, Alexandre Dumas’s “forgotten masterpiece” (Le Monde) features two steely and preternaturally modern heroines fighting on opposite sides of the wars that ravaged seventeenth-century France. An unabashed page-turner, humorous, dramatic, and crackling with panache, this new English translation—the first in more than 100 years—shows Dumas at the peak of his powers.

Falsely accused of treason, the young sailor Edmond Dantès is arrested on his wedding day and imprisoned in the island fortress of the Château d'If. Having endured years of incarceration, he stages a daring and dramatic escape and sets out to discover the fabulous treasure of Monte Cristo, and to catch up with his enemies. A novel of enormous tension and excitement, The Count of Monte Cristo is also a tale of obsession and revenge. Believing himself to be an 'Angel of Providence', Dantès pursues his vengeance to the bitter end, only then realizing that he himself is a victim of fate.This newly revised, unabridged translation is as unputdownable now as it was when the novel first appeared, and William Thackeray, enthralled, 'began to read Monte Cristo at six one morning and never stopped till eleven at night'.

«Classic Stories which have been carefully graded for each level according to vocabulary, grammatical structures, sentence length and plot complexity. The ideal springboard for the development of learner's reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The former Musketeers return for yet another adventure. Their motto is still the same: «All for one and one for all» — but this time the four good friends find themselves on different sides. Pack (Student‘s Book, Activity Book, CD).»

Dumas' famous musketeers return in another exciting swashbuckler. And this time, Aramis is embarking on the most perilous mission of all: to depose King Louis XIV and put his twin brother Philip on the throne instead. Since childhood, Philip has been hidden away so no one would know of his existence — but Aramis believes that he would be the superior ruler. Is Aramis right... or is he making a deadly mistake? With Classic Starts[trademark], young readers can experience the wonder of these timeless stories from an early age. Abridged for easier reading and carefully rewritten, each classic novel is filled with all the magic and excitement that made the original story a beloved favourite.

«Dans La Femme au collier de velours et dans les nouvelles qui composent Les Mille et Un Fantômes, Dumas présente un tour d'horizon du fantastique, du plus traditionnel au plus surprenant : fantômes, visions et vampires sont mobilisés, mais aussi les obsessions morbides de la génération post-révolutionnaire. Les têtes coupées parlent, les corps suppliciés se redressent et témoignent de l'abdication de la raison devant une histoire chaotique et proprement infernale. «Croyez-vous, Monsieur Ledru, demanda Jacquemin à demi-voix, croyez-vous qu'une tête puisse parler, une fois séparée du corps M. Ledru poussa une exclamation qui ressemblait à un cri, et pâlit visiblement. — Le croyez-vous? dites, répéta Jacquemin. M. Ledru fit un effort. — Oui, dit-il, je le crois. — Eh bien!... eh bien!... elle a parlé. — Qui? — La tête... la tête de Jeanne».»

«Le Chevalier de Maison-Rouge (1845) se consacre aux derniers mois de Marie-Antoinette. Dans l'ombre, un homme plein de passion tente de sauver celle qui fut la reine, en s'appuyant sur le dévouement d'une femme pure, Geneviève Dixmer; un amour impossible se tisse entre cette femme et Maurice Lindey, l'un des républicains héroïques qui ont pour charge de garder la prisonnière. Sur l'abîme creusé par la Révolution, il s'agit, pour Dumas romancier de toute l'Histoire de France, de jeter un pont vers ce temps disparu, la fin de la monarchie, ou des monarques. La Marie-Antoinette qu'il recrée dans ce roman, il la considère ainsi: «Reine, c'est une grande coupable; femme, c'est une âme digne et grande». Une grande et double figure, sur fond d'intrigues amoureuses et de réforme totalitaire. Personne n'a su, mieux que Dumas, peindre la passion dans l'Histoire.»

«Ce roman trop oublié est un chef-d'œuvre unique chez Dumas. Il aurait pu être signé de Sterne, ou de Swift c'est dans leur ton qu'il évoque la traite des noirs. Le récit est plein de gaieté et de verve, de burlesque parodique: on y trouve les grandes scènes du roman d'aventures, la prise du navire marchand, la mutinerie à bord, l'Amérique de Fenimore Cooper. Les personnages sont empruntés à la tradition comique: l'Anglais en proie au spleen, le trompeur, le gourmand, le niais, le chef indien. C'est aussi une œuvre sombre: une suite de morts, animaux massacrés, esclaves tués en route, immigrants anglais décimés par la maladie, indigènes exterminés. Le héros, Pamphile, incarne la société commerçante et pharisienne dans laquelle l'artiste est condamné à vivre. C'est le monde de Monte-Cristo sans le comte. «Le travail m'excite: dès que j'ai la plume à la main, une réaction s'opère; mes plus folles fantaisies sont souvent sorties de mes jours les plus nébuleux. Supposez un orage avec des éclairs roses».»

The Man in the Iron Mask is the final episode in the cycle of novels featuring Dumas' celebrated foursome of D'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, who first appeared in The Three Musketeers. Some thirty-five years on, the bonds of comradeship are under strain as they end up on different sides in a power struggle that may undermine the young Louis XIV and change the face of the French monarchy. In the fast-paced narrative style that was his trademark, Dumas pitches us straight into the action. What is the secret shared by Aramis and Madame de Chevreuse? Why does the Queen Mother fear its revelation? Who is the mysterious prisoner in the Bastille? And what is the nature of the threat he poses? Dumas, the master storyteller, keeps us reading and guessing until the climactic scene in the grotto of Locmaria, a fitting conclusion to the epic saga of the musketeers.

Alexandre Dumas's novels are notable for their suspense and excitement, their foul deeds, hairsbreadth escapes, and glorious victories. In The Black Tulip, the shortest of Dumas's most famous tales, the real hero is no Musketeer, but a flower. The novel — a deceptively simple story — is set in Holland in 1672, and weaves the historical events surrounding the brutal murder of John de Witte and his brother Cornelius into a tale of romantic love. The novel is also a timeless political allegory in which Dumas, drawing on the violence and crimes of history, makes his case against tyranny and puts all his energies into creating a symbol of justice and tolerance: the fateful tulipa negra. This edition reprints the first, classic English translation. David Coward sets the novel in the context of its author's life, the turbulent history of the Dutch Republic, and the amazing tulipmania of the 17th century which brought wealth to some and ruin to many.