The Count of Monte Cristo

The Count of Monte Cristo is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with The Three Musketeers. Like many of his novels, it was expanded from plot outlines suggested by his collaborating ghostwriter Auguste Maquet.

Tom Reiss' swashbuckling new book, The Black Count, tells the true story of Alex Dumas, son of a French nobleman and an African slave, the father of author Alexandre Dumas and the inspiration for the younger Dumas' classic novel The Count of Monte Cristo.

Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, the tale of Edmond Dantes' years-long quest for revenge against the men who sent him to jail, explores several themes. Among these themes are the futility of revenge and its cousin, man's efforts compared to God's.