'people get out of prison, and when they get out, and their name is Edmond Dantes, they take their revenge!'Falsely accused of treason, the young sailor Edmond Dantes is arrested on his wedding day and imprisoned in the island fortress of the Chateau d'If. Having endured years of incarceration, he stages a daring and dramatic escape and sets out to discover the fabulous treasure of Monte Cristo, and tocatch up with his enemies. A novel of enormous tension and excitement, The Count of Monte Cristo is also a tale of obsession and revenge. Believing himself to be an 'Angel of Providence', Dantes pursues his vengeance to the bitter end, only then realizing that he himself is a victim of fate.One of the great thrillers of all time, The Count of Monte Cristo has been adapted for film and television many times. This newly revised, unabridged translation is as unputdownable now as it was when the novel first appeared, and William Thackeray, enthralled, 'began to read Monte Cristo at six onemorning and never stopped till eleven at night'.

David Coward is Professor of French Literature Emeritus at the University of Leeds.