7 h 43 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 7 h 43 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A marriage without love binds two lives together as revolution pulls the French court apart.
In Alexandre Dumas’s The Countess of Charny, Andrée de Taverney carries the pride of an old noble family and the pain of a hidden past. Marie Antoinette arranges her marriage to Count Olivier de Charny, a naval officer devoted to the queen. Honor binds him to a wife he barely knows.
Beyond their marriage, hunger, rumor and political speeches drive crowds toward Versailles. Louis XVI struggles to meet the crisis, while Doctor Gilbert hopes for change and fears violence. Moving between palace and street, Dumas brings private loyalties into a public struggle where the royal family has less control with every step.
What you’ll discover
- A proud woman's guarded heart Follow Andrée as an arranged marriage places new demands on feelings she keeps tightly controlled.
- Honor pulled two ways Explore what Charny owes to his wife when his service belongs to the crown.
- Crowds at the palace Enter a world where hunger and rumor bring the streets into the court's troubled life.
- Change seen from below Meet Billot and Ange Pitou, country people drawn toward revolution by conviction and loyalty.
- Questions that pull you onward Short chapters, sudden shocks and interwoven lives keep both the political and personal stakes close.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy vivid history, the French Revolution, doomed love stories, and plain-hearted heroes set against great events.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A vengeful farmer takes his seat in Paris
- Gilbert warns a court that will not listen
- A new minister faces the queen behind the tapestry
- The crowd of June enters the palace
- The country is in danger and Marseilles marches
- Charny comes to guard a queen who refuses to flee
- The tenth of August begins with a murder
- Devotion crosses every wall of class
- Revenge, justice and the price of blood
- How Dumas tells it
Who’s who
- François BilletA stern Paris deputy and farmer who helped take the Bastille and wants revenge on the nobles and priests who wronged his family.
- Ange PitouA kind-hearted peasant and captain of the Haramont Guard who loves Catherine and serves her and her son with devotion.
- Catherine BilletBillet's disowned daughter, a young mother who lives in hiding with her son and needs a friend she can trust.
- Doctor Honoré GilbertThe king's physician and a patriot who tries to guide both court and revolution, and who carries guilt over Andrea.
- Andrea, Countess of CharnyThe proud wife of Count Charny, who loves her husband deeply and has endured years of silence and sorrow.
- Count George de CharnyA naval officer and devoted royal guard who wants to protect the queen, though his heart belongs to his wife.
- Queen Marie AntoinetteThe proud queen who wants to crush the revolution rather than yield, and who clings to hopes of rescue by Austria.
- Joseph Balsamo, called CagliostroThe mysterious leader of the Invisibles, who foresees events and believes the revolution needs blood to succeed.
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The Countess of Charny
by Alexandre Dumas · 1852
A farmer, a peasant captain and a doctor stand at the Tuileries as the French monarchy falls in August 1792.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
Picture the Tuileries Palace in the summer of 1792. A king sits in a home that no longer protects him, a queen waits for Austrian armies, and thousands of ragged men march toward the gates with pikes.
The Countess of Charny at a glance
- Reading time
- About 4 h 25 min3 h 30 min fast, 5 h 15 min slow
- Length
- 62,900 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1852by Alexandre Dumas
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 vengeful farmer takes his seat in Paris
On the first of October 1791 the new Legislative Assembly meets in Paris. King Louis XVI sits under guard in the Tuileries Palace after his failed flight to Varennes. One of the deputies is François Billet, a stern farmer who helped take the Bastille.
Billet carries two wounds. Police looted his farm, and Viscount Isidore of Charny ruined his daughter Catherine. When his wife died, a priest refused to bury her, and at her grave Billet swore lasting hostility to nobles and clergy. He will not speak his daughter's name or look at her little boy.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1852
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Dumas, Alexandre. The Countess of Charny. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-countess-of-charny.
Dumas, A. (2026). The Countess of Charny. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-countess-of-charny (Original work published 1852)
Dumas, Alexandre. The Countess of Charny. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-countess-of-charny.
@book{dumas2026countess,
author = {Dumas, Alexandre},
title = {The Countess of Charny},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-countess-of-charny},
note = {First published 1852}
}
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What is The Countess of Charny about?
It follows events from the opening of the Legislative Assembly in 1791 into the winter of 1794. Billet, Pitou, Gilbert and Andrea survive the fall of the monarchy, but Count Charny is killed on the tenth of August.
Who is the Countess of Charny?
She is Andrea de Taverney, the wife of Count George de Charny. She was forced into a marriage that hid the queen's secret, and she has loved her husband quietly through years of separation and sorrow.
Is The Countess of Charny a true story?
It is a novel, but built on real events such as the June crowd, the Marseilles volunteers and the tenth of August. Real figures like Danton, Dumouriez and Louis XVI appear beside characters Dumas invented.
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
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