51 h 57 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 51 h 57 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when an honest man loses everything—and gains the power to make his enemies answer?
Edmond Dantès comes home to Marseille with a promotion and marriage within reach. Then envy and ambition close around him. Danglars plots against him, and Gérard de Villefort protects his own career at Edmond’s expense. Sent to prison without a trial, the young sailor loses his future with Mercédès.
In the stone and silence of the Château d’If, Edmond meets Abbé Faria, a scholar-priest with knowledge to share and a secret about treasure. Years later, a mysterious count enters Rome and Paris. Alexandre Dumas and Auguste Maquet build an adventure of escape, disguise and patient revenge around a troubling question: who has the right to deliver justice?
What you’ll discover
- A life torn apart Feel the stakes of betrayal as Edmond’s hopes collide with other men’s envy.
- A teacher behind bars Meet Abbé Faria, whose lessons and secret offer Edmond something beyond his prison walls.
- Fortune, danger and disguise Follow an intricate plot through buried treasure, bandits, poison and a stranger’s carefully guarded purpose.
- Enemies with much to lose Enter wealthy Paris households where old wrongs meet money, ambition and a patient plan.
- Justice without a court Weigh the pull of revenge against the question of who may rightly judge another.
Who will love it
Readers who love grand adventures with a warm heart and schemes that unfold step by step will enjoy this story of prisons, hidden treasure, and disguises.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Young Sailor Comes Home in Triumph
- Three Men Turn Envy into a Letter
- The Wedding Feast Ends in an Arrest
- Despair and an Abbé Change the Prisoner
- A Dead Man's Sack Becomes the Road Out
- The Stranger Returns and Tests Old Friends
- The Count Arrives in Rome, Then Paris
- Revenge Reaches People Who Did Him No Harm
- Money, Names, and Patience Are His Weapons
- A Serial Adventure Built to Be Followed
Who’s who
- Edmond DantèsA young sailor from Marseilles, honest and loved by all, who wants to marry Mercédès and command the Pharaon.
- MercédèsA Catalan girl of fierce loyalty who loves Edmond and refuses every other suitor while she waits for him.
- Fernand MondegoA fisherman and Mercédès' cousin who loves her in vain and wants his rival out of the way.
- DanglarsThe ship's supercargo, proud and cunning, who hates Dantès and wants money and rank.
- CaderousseA neighbor and tailor, envious and weak, who drinks too much and cannot decide between loyalty and gain.
- Gérard de VillefortA deputy king's attorney, ambitious and careful, who wants to protect his career and his family name.
- Abbé FariaAn Italian priest and scholar, held as mad in prison, who teaches Dantès and offers him freedom through knowledge.
- Albert de MorcerfA friendly young Parisian viscount, devoted to his mother, who meets the count in Rome and brings him home.
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The Count of Monte Cristo
by Alexandre Dumas; Auguste Maquet · 1844
On his wedding day, a young sailor in Marseilles is arrested on a false charge and vanishes into a prison island.
ChallengingOver 20 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
Imagine you are nineteen. You have just brought a ship home to Marseilles, you are about to be named captain, and within days you will marry the woman you love.
The Count of Monte Cristo at a glance
- Reading time
- About 29 h 40 min23 h 30 min fast, 35 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 423,300 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1844by Alexandre Dumas; Auguste Maquet
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Young Sailor Comes Home in Triumph
The story opens on the twenty-fourth of February, 1815, as the three-masted Pharaon sails into Marseilles. Her captain has died at sea, and the young mate Edmond Dantès has brought her home. The owner, M. Morrel, promises him command of the ship.
Dantès has a father waiting in a small room and a fiancée named Mercédès in the fishing village of the Catalans. At the island of Elba he carried a packet for his dying captain, and he thinks nothing of it. Morrel warns him that such a meeting could bring trouble.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1844
- Language
- English
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Dumas, Alexandre, and Auguste Maquet. The Count of Monte Cristo. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-count-of-monte-cristo.
Dumas, A., & Maquet, A. (2026). The Count of Monte Cristo. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-count-of-monte-cristo (Original work published 1844)
Dumas, Alexandre, and Auguste Maquet. The Count of Monte Cristo. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-count-of-monte-cristo.
@book{dumas2026count,
author = {Dumas, Alexandre and Maquet, Auguste},
title = {The Count of Monte Cristo},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-count-of-monte-cristo},
note = {First published 1844}
}
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What is The Count of Monte Cristo about?
It follows Edmond Dantès, a young sailor from Marseilles who is falsely accused and imprisoned on his wedding day. After years in the Château d'If and the discovery of a vast treasure, he returns as a mysterious count to repay his friends and enemies.
Is The Count of Monte Cristo a true story?
No, it is a novel, though it uses real history, such as Napoleon's exile on Elba and his return in 1815. Dumas worked with Auguste Maquet, and the book first appeared as a serial in the mid 1840s.
Who are the main characters in The Count of Monte Cristo?
Edmond Dantès is the hero, Mercédès his fiancée, and Danglars, Fernand Mondego, and Caderousse the men who betray him. Villefort is the prosecutor who sends him to prison, and Abbé Faria is the priest who teaches him in his cell.
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).
More by Alexandre Dumas; Auguste Maquet
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