Imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, Edmond Dantès spends fourteen bitter years in a dungeon. When his daring escape plan works he uses all he has learnt during his incarceration to mastermind an elaborate plan of revenge that will bring punishment to those he holds responsible for his fate. No longer the naïve sailor who disappeared into the dark fortress all those years ago, he reinvents himself as the charming, mysterious and powerful Count of Monte Cristo...

Alexandre Dumas was born on 24 July 1802 in Villers-Cotterêts near Paris.His father, who was the son of a French marquis and a former slave, died when Alexandre was three years old. He was brought up by his mother and later moved to Paris to work as a clerk. He wrote plays, travel books, children's stories and memoirs as well as novels and was a keen traveller and cook. His most famous works are The Three Musketeers (1844) and The Count of Monte Cristo (1844-5). Alexandre Dumas died on 5 December 1870.