6 h 24 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 6 h 24 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a gathering near Paris turns its talk toward the dead?
In The Thousand and One Ghosts, Alexandre Dumas steps into his own collection as a curious, sociable traveler. Near Paris, he meets people ready to share stories of hauntings, crimes, and signs from beyond the grave. Each guest brings a different tale, and the gathering becomes the thread that holds them together.
The stories move through different places, periods, and moods, with France’s violent past close behind them. The shadow of the French Revolution falls across a world familiar with sudden death. Yet Dumas tells these dark tales with warmth, jokes, and digressions, drawing you into the conversation rather than following one tight plot.
What you’ll discover
- A storyteller steps inside Meet Dumas as a character, drawn from the road into talk of crime and ghosts.
- Each guest brings ghosts Follow the gathering from teller to teller, each with a different encounter with the dead.
- France’s haunting past Feel the shadow of the French Revolution fall across stories marked by sudden death.
- Dark tales, warm company Enjoy a chatty storyteller whose jokes and digressions sit alongside the promise of a scare.
- Stories within a story Explore a loose chain of supernatural tales held together by the people who tell them.
Who will love it
For readers who love ghost stories told by the fireside, French history in the background, and a storyteller who loves a good scare.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A storyteller steps into his own book
- Each guest brings a tale of the dead
- France and its violent past haunt the tales
- A talker's style that rewards listening
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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The Thousand and One Ghosts
by Alexandre Dumas · 1849
Near Paris, Dumas joins guests whose tales of hauntings and crimes test the line between belief and doubt.
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In short
The Thousand and One Ghosts is a book of supernatural tales by Alexandre Dumas, the French author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. It appeared in the late 1840s, when Dumas was writing at great speed for serial publication and for a huge public.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A storyteller steps into his own book
The book opens with Dumas as a character. He is a writer on the road, curious and sociable, and he is soon drawn into talk of crime and the supernatural. This is a playful choice. The author of famous adventure novels becomes a listener, and the reader sits beside him.
The frame matters because it sets the mood. Ghost stories work best when someone tells them to others, in a room, with doubt and fear in the air. Dumas gives his listeners different attitudes. Some believe, some mock, and some only want to hear what happens next.
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What is The Thousand and One Ghosts about?
It is a book of supernatural tales told within a frame story. Dumas appears as a narrator who listens to guests telling of hauntings, crimes and signs from the dead, in a style that echoes the Arabian Nights.
When was The Thousand and One Ghosts written?
Dumas wrote it in the late 1840s, and it first appeared in French as Les Mille et un fantômes. It came out in the period when he was publishing many works in serial form.
Why is it called The Thousand and One Ghosts?
The title plays on The Thousand and One Nights. Both books use a frame in which one tale leads into another, though Dumas replaces the eastern fables with ghost stories.
The author
Alexandre Dumas
1802–1870 · French novelist and playwright
Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) was a French novelist and playwright. He was born in Villers-Cotterêts, lived in Paris, and died in Puys, near Dieppe. He wrote The Three Musketeers (1844), The Count of Monte Cristo (1844–1846), Twenty Years After (1845), and The Black Tulip (1850).
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