The Three Musketeers - Unabridged

Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) was a prolific author and dramatist who became one of the most successful and widely-read writers of the Romantic period.The mixed-race son of an army general, young Dumas and his family fell on hard times after his father passed away. Dumas eventually moved to Paris to pursue a career in law but quickly fell into a life in the theatre, eventually writing a number of successful plays before turning to historical novels.In 1844, he produced what would become his best known work: Les Trois Mousquetaires (The Three Musketeers), a thrilling romance about four swashbuckling heroes in the age of Cardinal Richelieu. He quickly followed it up with Vingt ans après (Twenty Years After) in 1845 and - almost simultaneously - wrote his other smash hit Le Comte de Monte Cristo (The Count of Monte Cristo), published that same year.As he became more successful, his spending increased to the point where he had to write furiously just to keep his creditors at bay, but his later books, including Dix ans plus tard ou le Vicomte de Bragelonne (Ten Years Later; or, The Vicomte de Bragelonne); and La Tulipe noire (The Black Tulip) were also highly successful.Dumas is often referred to as "Père" to distinguish him from his son, Alexandre Dumas fils, also a prolific and successful writer. Dumas died in 1870 of natural causes and was buried at his birthplace in Villers-Cotterêts but, in 2002 - to celebrate the bicentenary of his birth - Dumas body was disinterred and moved to the Panthéon in Paris, where many of France's greatest luminaries are buried.Dumas' books have been adapted into numerous stage, screen and television productions and his books remain wildly successful to this day.