In Alexandre Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantès is on the verge of marrying Mercédès when betrayal leads to his imprisonment without trial in the Château d’If. The injustice turns a promising life into a struggle for freedom and redress.

A fortune, an escape, a reckoning

A fellow prisoner, the Abbé Faria, offers Dantès friendship and hope, then gives him a map to a great treasure. After escaping, Dantès uses it to plot revenge on the men who wronged him, assuming the identity of the Count of Monte Cristo. The story of retribution also turns on lost love and the possibility of remaking oneself.

Robin Buss’s complete translation

Robin Buss’s complete, unabridged translation is accompanied by an introduction, chronology, explanatory notes, and suggestions for further reading. Dumas’s novel was first serialized in the 1840s.