![]() A strong and handsome and capable young man is well on his way to having a golden life, complete with the girl he loves, until jealousy in those around him has him sent to prison on false charges. There’s actually very little fencing or fighting, and the torture is almost all mental, but… yeah. The giants and monsters are figurative in The Count, but they’re in there – they are in there. ‘Are you kidding? Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…’ It’s fantastic, in every meaning of the word it’s different from what I expected and from nearly everything I’ve read before it’s a great adventure yarn with a lovely little romance thrown in (almost entirely counterbalanced by wrecked relationships, but still lovely)… In fact… The Count of Monte Cristo is an extraordinary, long, complex work with a very simple story idea: a young man is horribly wronged, emerges from prison with a new life and a vast fortune, and uses that plus his very good mind to wreak vengeance on the people who ruined his life. Dantès escapes, finds the treasure, buys a peerage and sets about his revenge. He is sentenced to life imprisonment at the notorious Château d’If, where, 14 years later, a fellow inmate, a priest on his deathbed, reveals the whereabouts of a massive treasure on the tiny island of Monte Cristo. Edmond Dantès, a charismatic young seaman, just promoted to captain, is framed by jealous rivals, falsely accused of being a pro-Bonaparte spy and arrested minutes before his marriage to the beautiful Mercedes. Dumas père is chiefly remembered for this, for The Three Musketeers, and for fathering Alexander Dumas fils, author of La Dame aux Camélias. It would be about as satisfying as booking a table at Le Gavroche and ordering scrambled eggs, but 52 hours, I agree, is a long haul. ![]() If you are already dismayed by the length and price of this famous story of revenge set in France against a backdrop of turbulent Bonapartist politics, you could cop out and buy the two-CD abridgement for £10.99. Titles by Alexandre Dumas Titles by Alexandre Dumas Beau Geste (unabridged) The Black Tulip (unabridged) The Count of Monte Cristo (abridged) The Count of Monte Cristo (unabridged) The Man in the Iron Mask (unabridged) The Man in the Iron Mask (abridged) The Three Musketeers (abridged) The Three Musketeers (unabridged) Reviews Titles read by Bill Homewood Titles read by Bill Homewood 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (unabridged) Allan Quatermain (unabridged) Around the World in Eighty Days (unabridged) Colonel Chabert (unabridged) The Council of Justice (unabridged) The Count of Monte Cristo (abridged) The Count of Monte Cristo (unabridged) Father Goriot (unabridged) The Four Just Men (unabridged) From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon (unabridged) The Further Adventures of Zorro (unabridged) Gargantua and Pantagruel (unabridged) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (abridged) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (unabridged) Idylls of the King (unabridged) Journey to the Centre of the Earth (unabridged) The Just Men of Cordova (unabridged) King Solomon’s Mines (abridged) La Rabouilleuse (unabridged) The Lady of the Camellias (abridged) Le Morte d'Arthur (unabridged) Les Misérables (abridged) Les Misérables (unabridged) The Man in the Iron Mask (unabridged) The Man in the Iron Mask (abridged) The Mark of Zorro (unabridged) The Moonstone (abridged) The Mysterious Island (unabridged) The Phantom of the Opera (unabridged) The Red and the Black (abridged) The Red and the Black (unabridged) The Scarlet Pimpernel (unabridged) Shakespeare’s Lovers (unabridged) She (abridged) She – A History of Adventure (unabridged) The Sign of Zorro (unabridged) The Song of Roland (unabridged) The Three Musketeers (abridged) The Three Musketeers (unabridged) Tom Jones (unabridged) Zorro Rides Again (unabridged) Bill has published six collections of poetry including 50 Sonnets (Mimosa Books, 2000). They include She, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Misérables and Le Morte d’Arthur. His recordings for Naxos AudioBooks have won many awards. Bill Homewood is known for his innumerable television performances and leading credits in the West End and for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
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