FRENCH CLASSICS FEATURED

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Where to start with French Classics

Five Full-Cast Dramatisations Including Macbeth, Emma & The Great Gatsby

Anti-Heroes: A BBC Radio Drama Collection

BBC radio dramatisations of classic novels centred around engaging anti-heroes who dominate high societyAmbitious. Ruthless. Unprincipled. With their blurred morals and relatable imperfections, it’s no wonder we find anti-heroes so appealing and fascinating. Featuring a mixture of male and female anti-heroes across England, Scotland, France and New York, these fantastic adaptations of five of the best-known and best-loved classics of literature follow some of these flawed, nuanced characters as they steal the spotlight and make their presence known.Macbeth – Scottish general Macbeth’s life is changed when he encounters three witches who predict that he will become the king of Scotland. Encouraged by his forceful wife, he proceeds to fulfil the prophecy, but descends into madness and tyranny... This thrilling production of William Shakespeare's dark tragedy about ambition for power stars Neil Dudgeon and Emma Fielding.The Count of Monte Cristo – Marseilles, 1815. Nineteen-year-old seaman Edmond Dantès is engaged to the beautiful Mercédès and about to be promoted to Captain. But when three acquaintances betray him, he is condemned to 14 years of solitary confinement in the Chateau D'If. Escaping the notorious prison, Dantès plots his enemies’ destruction… Iain Glen stars in Alexandre Dumas’s swashbuckling tale of revenge.Emma – Handsome, clever and rich, Emma Woodhouse is so blessed by life that she declares she will never marry. However, she is determined to find the right match for her new friend Harriet Smith. Eve Best stars in this adaptation of Jane Austen's sparkling comedy of young love and romantic meddling.Vanity Fair – Thackeray's deliciously ironic tale of passion and ambition, set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, follows the fortunes of penniless, social-climbing Becky Sharp and her wealthy, sweet-natured best friend, Amelia Sedley. Starring Stephen Fry as the Narrator, with Emma Fielding as Becky, Katy Cavanagh as Amelia and Toby Jones as Jos.The Great Gatsby – Arriving in Long Island, Nick Carraway is reacquainted with his distant cousin, Daisy Buchanan, and falls in with her wealthy crowd. His neighbour, self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby, is the man who has everything – but one thing will always be out of his reach... A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, this dramatisation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's seminal novel stars Bryan Dick and Andrew Scott.Credits MacbethWritten by William ShakespeareDirected by Marc BeebyComposer: Timothy X AtackSound design by Colin GuthrieFirst broadcast BBC Radio 3, 17 May 2015The Count of Monte CristoWritten by Alexandre DumasAdapted by Sebastian BaczkiewiczDirected by Jeremy Mortimer and Sasha YevtushenkoMusic by David Tobin and Jeff MeeganFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 November–16 December 2012EmmaWritten by Jane AustenDramatised by April de AngelisDirected by Jonquil PantingMusic: Martin Souter and Sarah StoweFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 November–3 December 2000Vanity FairWritten by William Makepeace ThackerayDramatised by Stephen WyattProduced by Claire GroveFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 13 September–8 October 2004The Great GatsbyWritten by F. Scott FitzgeraldDramatised by Robert ForrestDirected by Gaynor MacFarlaneFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 6–13 May 2012© 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

William Shakespeare (Author) William Shakespeare was born to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He wrote about 38 plays (the precise number is uncertain), many of which are regarded as the most exceptional works of drama ever produced, including Romeo and Juliet (1595), Henry V (1599), Hamlet (1601), Othello (1604), King Lear (1606) and Macbeth (1606), as well as a collection of 154 sonnets, which number among the most profound and influential love poetry in English. Shakespeare died in Stratford in 1616. Jane Austen (Author) Jane Austen was born in Steventon rectory on 16 December 1775. Her family later moved to Bath, then to Southampton and finally to Chawton in Hampshire. She began writing Pride and Prejudice when she was twenty-two years old. It was originally called First Impressions and was initially rejected by the publishers and only published in 1813 after much revision. She published four of her novels in her lifetime, Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Jane Austen died on 18th July 1817. Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were both published posthumously in 1818. F. Scott Fitzgerald (Author) Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age – a term he popularized in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. His first novel, This Side of Paradise, was published in 1920 and was a tremendous critical and commercial success. Fitzgerald followed with The Beautiful and the Damned, The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night . He was working on The Last Tycoon when he died, in Hollywood, in 1940.

The Three Musketeers

Puffin Classics: the definitive collection of timeless stories, for every child 
Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this charming, abridged edition of The Three Musketeers, designed for readers aged 9-12 years. 
 
When young D'Artagnan comes to Paris to seek his fortune, he is challenged to a duel with not one, but three of the king's Musketeers. But Athos, Porthos and Aramis become his trusted friends as he tries to prove himself worthy of becoming a fourth Musketeer. 
 
This is an abridged edition of the classic novel, designed for younger readers.

Alexander Dumas was born in 1802 at Villes-Cotterets. He received very little education but when he entered the household of the future king, Louis-Philippe, he began to read veraciously and then to write. In 1839 he began writing novels dealing with the wars of religion and the Revolution, but he is most remembered for his historical novels, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.

Rediscover the Puffin Classics collection and bring the best-loved classics to a new generation - including this charming, abridged edition of The Three Musketeers, designed for readers aged 9-12 years. 
 
When young D'Artagnan comes to Paris to seek his fortune, he is challenged to a duel with not one, but three of the king's Musketeers. But Athos, Porthos and Aramis become his trusted friends as he tries to prove himself worthy of becoming a fourth Musketeer. 
 
This is an abridged edition of the classic novel, designed for younger readers.

Vintage Classics French Series

All for one, and one for all! 
 
The young D'Artagnan and the legendary musketeers Athos, Porthos and Aramis are 'the inseparables' - ready to sacrifice everything in a duel or game of dice in order to defend their honour or that of the King and Queen of France. Handsome and hot-tempered, they dive into raging battles or back-street conspiracies with gusto, especially if by their daring deeds they can thwart the wicked devices of their arch-enemy, Cardinal Richelieu, and his mysterious accomplice, Milady de Winter. 
 
'Pure swashbuckling pleasure' Daily Telegraph 
 
TRANSLATED BY WILL HOBSON 
 
VINTAGE FRENCH CLASSICS - six masterpieces of French fiction in gorgeous new gift editions.

Abridged Edition

Penguin Readers Level 5: The Three Musketeers (ELT Graded Reader)

Penguin Readers is an ELT graded reader series for learners of English as a foreign language. With carefully adapted text, new illustrations and language learning exercises, the print edition also includes instructions to access supporting material online. 
 
Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction, introducing language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. 
 
The eight levels of Penguin Readers follow the Common European Framework of Reference for language learning (CEFR). Exercises at the back of each Reader help language learners to practise grammar, vocabulary, and key exam skills. Before, during and after-reading questions test readers' story comprehension and develop vocabulary. 
 
The Three Musketeers, a Level 5 Reader, is B1 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing present perfect continuous, past perfect, reported speech and second conditional. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear regularly. 
 
When the young d'Artagnan leaves his home in Gascony with the hope of becoming one of the king's musketeers, it is the start of a wonderful adventure. D'Artagnan soon meets the three musketeers, Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Together they cry, "All for one and one for all!" 
 
 Visit the Penguin Readers website 
Exclusively with the print edition, readers can unlock online resources including a digital book, audio edition, lesson plans and answer keys.

Alexander Dumas was born in 1802 at Villes-Cotterets. He received very little education but when he entered the household of the future king, Louis-Philippe, he began to read veraciously and then to write. In 1839 he began writing novels dealing with the wars of religion and the Revolution, but he is most remembered for his historical novels, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.

With carefully adapted text, new illustrations, language practise activities and additional online resources, the Penguin Readers series introduces language learners to bestselling authors and compelling content. Titles include popular classics, exciting contemporary fiction, and thought-provoking non-fiction. 
 
The Three Musketeers, a Level 5 Reader, is B1 in the CEFR framework. The text is made up of sentences with up to four clauses, introducing present perfect continuous, past perfect, reported speech and second conditional. It is well supported by illustrations, which appear regularly. 
 
When the young d'Artagnan leaves his home in Gascony with the hope of becoming one of the king's musketeers, it is the start of a wonderful adventure. D'Artagnan soon meets the three musketeers, Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Together they cry, "All for one and one for all!"

Three BBC Radio 4 full-cast dramatisations

The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo & The Lady of the Camellias

A BBC Radio collection bringing together much- loved works by Alexandre Dumas and Alexandre Dumas fils, starring Ruth Wilson, Dan Stevens and Timothy Spall.

A BBC Radio collection bringing together much-loved works by Alexandre Dumas and Alexandre Dumas fils, starring Timothy Spall, Anton Lesser, Iain Glen, Ruth Wilson and Dan Stevens. 
 
Alexandre Dumas père and fils are among the most popular and widely read authors in French literature, whose works have been adapted numerous times for stage, screen and radio. This BBC radio collection brings together three of their most famous tales of chivalry, heroism and romance. 
 
The Three Musketeers 
In this immortal tale of intrigue and derring-do, dashing young swordsman D’Artagnan and three members of King Louis XIII’s elite royal guard – Athos, Porthos and Aramis – embark on a series of adventures full of duelling, danger, courage and camaraderie. 
 
The Count of Monte Cristo 
Marseilles, 1815. Nineteen-year-old seaman Edmond Dantès is engaged to the beautiful Mercédès and about to be promoted to Captain. But his luck runs out when three acquaintances betray him, and he is condemned to fourteen years’ solitary confinement in the Chateau D'If. Escaping the notorious prison, Dantès plots his enemies’ destruction. His revenge will prove devastating… 
 
The Lady of the Camellias 
Written by Alexandre Dumas fils, this poignant tale of doomed love tells the story of Marguerite Gautier, a Parisian courtesan who goes on a journey through worldliness, romance, renunciation and atonement, thanks to a passionate affair with young Armand Duval. 
 
The Three Musketeers 
Written by Alexandre Dumas 
 
D'Artagnan – Jamie Glover 
Athos – Robert Glenister 
Porthos – Timothy Spall 
Aramis – Anton Lesser 
D'Artagnan’s father – James Taylor 
Jussac/Des Essarts – David Jarvis 
De Treville – Malcolm Ward 
King – Nicholas Boulton 
Planchet – Dominic Letts 
Bonacieux – Norman Bird 
Musketeer/Rochefort – Michael Onslow 
Narrator – John Rowe 
Madame Bonacieux – Helena Breck 
Duke of Buckingham – Michael Cochrane 
Queen – Teresa Gallagher 
Cardinal Richelieu – Julian Glover 
Magistrate – John Evitts 
Warder/Grimaud – Tom Bevan 
Bazin – David Rowan 
De Wardes – Kim Wall 
Milady de Winter – Imelda Staunton 
Lord de Winter – Gareth Armstrong 
Felton – Lyndam Gregory 
With Rachel Atkins, Nicholas Murchie, Peter Kenny, Frances Jeater and Stuart Organ 
Dramatised by James Saunders 
Produced and directed by Martin Jenkins 
 
The Count of Monte Cristo 
Written by Alexandre Dumas 
 
Edmond Dantes – Iain Glen 
Haydee – Jane Lapotaire 
Abbe Faria – Richard Johnson 
Monsieur Morrell/Operator – Robert Blythe 
Danglars – Toby Jones 
Fernand de Morcerf – Zubin Varla 
Caderousse – Ben Crowe 
Jacopo – Joe Sims 
Captain Patin – Patrick Brennan 
Albert de Morcerf/Antoine/Andrea Cavalcanti – Will Howard 
Claude/Coachman/Bertuccio/Banker – Paul Stonehouse 
Max Morrell – Adam Nagaitis 
Mathilde– Liza Sadovy 
Julie Morrell/Eugenie Danglars – Eleanor Crooks 
Younger Haydee – Amber Rose Revah 
Gerard de Villefort – Paul Rhys 
Mercédès de Morcerf – Josette Simon 
Heloise de Villefort – Kate Fleetwood 
General Noirtier – Karl Johnson 
Hermine Danglars – Stephanie Racine 
Valentine de Villefort – Lizzy Watts 
Madame Lascelles/Actor – Sarah Thom 
Edourd de Villefort – Finn Monteath 
Adapted for radio by Sebastian Baczkiewicz 
Produced and directed by Jeremy Mortimer and Sasha Yevtushenko 
Music by David Tobin and Jeff Meegan 
 
The Lady of the Camellias 
Written by Alexandre Dumas fils 
 
Marguerite – Ruth Wilson 
Duval – Dan Stevens 
Dumas – Joseph Kloska 
Marguerite's sister/Prudence/Maid – Manon Edwards 
Gravedigger/Ernest/Count – Dick Bradnum 
Gaston/Porter – Keiron Self 
Duval Senior – Steffan Rhodri 
Olympe – Lynne Seymour 
Adapted by Frances Byrnes 
Produced and directed by Polly Thomas

The Story of a Nutcracker

Discover the real story of the Nutcracker as told by Alexandre Dumas

For all its darkness, [The Nutcracker] appeals to parents and their children because it's like one of those glowing glass globes that you can shake and see the snow swirl. It's a dream bubble, a vision of middle-class happiness and fantasy that precedes the Russian Revolution and all the horrors of the last century and this one. That world may have faded, but it is still our sweetest dream

Like Hansel And Gretel, The Nutcracker is a slightly dark story, but it s also magical...a world of childhood imagination

Alexandre Dumas (Author) 
Alexandre Dumas was a French playwright, historian and prolific novelist, penning a string of successful books including The Three Musketeers (1844), The Count of Monte Cristo (1845), and Twenty Years After(1845). His novels have been translated into a hundred different languages and inspired over two hundred films. In his day Dumas was as famous for his financial irresponsibility and flamboyant lifestyle as for his writing. Dumas died in 1870.

Discover the real story behind Disney’s latest blockbuster adaptation The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, and the iconic Nutcracker Christmas ballet, as told by Alexandre Dumas 
 
‘How could you imagine, silly child, that this toy, which is made of cloth and wood, could possibly be alive?’ 
 
The nutcracker doll that mysterious Godfather Drosselmeyer gives to little Marie for Christmas is no ordinary toy. On Christmas Eve, as the clocks strike midnight, Marie watches as the Nutcracker and her entire cabinet of playthings come to life and boldly do battle against the evil Mouse King and his armies. 
But this is only the start of the tale. 
 
Read on for enchantment and transformation; enter a world by turns fantastical and sinister, a kingdom of dolls and spun-sugar palaces, and learn the true history of the brave little Nutcracker.

A fresh translation to tie-in to the brand new adaptation on BBC One.

Dumas is a master of ripping yarns full of fearless heroes, poisonous ladies and swashbuckling adventurers

The young Gascon d'Artagnan and the legendary musketeers Athos, Porthos and Aramis are ready to sacrifice everything for love, glory and the common good. The wicked machinations of Cardinal Richelieu and his accomplice, the magnetic Milady de Winter, propel the devoted friends across seas and battlefields from masked balls to a remote convent, in order to defend the honour of the Queen and the life of Constance Bonacieux, d'Artagnan's true love. 
 
Dashing, knockabout, romantic, violent, chilling and tragic, this buoyant new translation of The Three Musketeers brings Dumas' masterpiece to joyful life.

The Lady of the Camellias

The landmark novel that inspired both Verdi's opera La Traviata and the Oscar-winning musical Moulin Rouge!, in a sparkling new translation. 
 
One of the greatest love stories of all time, The Lady of the Camellias recounts the history of Marguerite Gautier, the most beautiful, brazen, and expensive courtesan in all of Paris. Known to all as 'the Lady of the Camellias' because she is never seen without her favourite flowers, she leads a glittering life of endless parties and aristocratic balls, with the richest men in France flocking to her boudoir to lay their fortunes at her feet. But despite having many lovers, she has never really loved - until she meets Armand Duval, young, handsome and from a lower social class, and yet hopelessly in love with Marguerite. 
 
ALEXANDRE DUMAS fils (1824-1895) was the son of the famous novelist Alexandre Dumas. In 1847 he published his first novel, Adventures of Four Women and a Parrot, followed a year later by The Lady of the Camellias and ten other novels over the next decade. After the great success of the dramatic version of The Lady of the Camellias, he was gradually drawn away from the novel to the stage. In 1874 he was elected to the French Academy and until his death continued to produce a long line of successful plays. 
 
LIESL SCHILLINGER is a journalist and literary critic who writes regularly for The New York Times Book Review and spent many years on the editorial staff of The New Yorker. 
 
JULIE KAVANAGH is the author of The Girl Who Loved Camellias, a biography of the courtesan who inspired The Lady of the Camellias. An award-winning biographer of Rudolf Nureyev and Frederick Ashton, she has been London editor of both Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. 
 
'One of the greatest love stories of the world' Henry James 
 
'Anyone who has read an outdated English translation of this novel; seen the opera it inspired - La Traviata, by Verdi; or watched the film it inspired - Camille, starring Greta Garbo, might have missed the audacity, obstinacy, sensuality, and recklessness of its characters' Liesl Schillinger

One of the greatest love stories of the world

ALEXANDRE DUMAS fils (1824-1895) was the son of the famous novelist Alexandre Dumas. In 1847 he published his first novel, Adventures of Four Women and a Parrot, followed a year later by The Lady of the Camellias and ten other novels over the next decade. After the great success of the dramatic version of The Lady of the Camellias, he was gradually drawn away from the novel to the stage. In 1874 he was elected to the French Academy and until his death continued to produce a long line of successful plays. 
 
LIESL SCHILLINGER is a journalist and literary critic who writes regularly for The New York Times Book Review and spent many years on the editorial staff of The New Yorker. 
 
JULIE KAVANAGH is the author of The Girl Who Loved Camellias, a biography of the courtesan who inspired The Lady of the Camellias. An award-winning biographer of Rudolf Nureyev and Frederick Ashton, she has been London editor of both Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.

One of the greatest love stories of all time, The Lady of the Camellias recounts the history of Marguerite Gautier, the most beautiful, brazen, and expensive courtesan in all of Paris. Known to all as 'the Lady of the Camellias' because she is never seen without her favourite flowers, she leads a glittering life of endless parties and aristocratic balls, with the richest men in France flocking to her boudoir to lay their fortunes at her feet. But despite having many lovers, she has never really loved - until she meets Armand Duval, young, handsome and from a lower social class, and yet hopelessly in love with Marguerite.

Ladybird Classics: The Three Musketeers

This beautiful hardback Ladybird Classic edition of The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas is a perfect first illustrated introduction to the classic story for younger readers. 
 It has been sensitively abridged and retold to make it suitable for sharing with young children from 5+, whilst retaining all the key parts of the story including D'Artagnan's adventures with the Musketeers, his efforts to help the Queen, and fascinating details about life in France. 
 Detailed full-colour illustrations throughout also help to bring this classic tale to life. 
 
 Other exciting titles in the Ladybird Classics series include Black Beauty, Alice in Wonderland, Gulliver's Travels, The Secret Garden, Oliver Twist, Treasure Island, A Christmas Carol, Peter Pan, Heidi, The Jungle Book and The Wind in the Willows.

Alexandre Dumas (Author) Alexander Dumas was born in 1802 at Villes-Cotterets. He received very little education but when he entered the household of the future king, Louis-Philippe, he began to read veraciously and then to write. In 1839 he began writing novels dealing with the wars of religion and the Revolution, but he is most remembered for his historical novels, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.

This Ladybird Classic is an abridged retelling of the classic story of The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, making it perfect for introducing the story to younger children, or for newly confident readers to tackle alone. 
 
Beautiful new illustrations throughout and a gorgeous larger format with ribbon marker bring the magic of this classic story to a new generation of children.

The Count of Monte Cristo

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Beautiful new clothbound edition of Dumas's classic novel of wrongful imprisonment, adventure and revenge

A beautiful new clothbound edition of Alexandre Dumas' classic novel of wrongful imprisonment, adventure and revenge. Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantes is confined to the grim fortress of the Château d'If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and becomes determined not only to escape but to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. A huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840s, Dumas was inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment when writing his epic tale of suffering and retribution.

Alexandre Dumas was born in 1802 at Villers-Cotterets in France. He received very little education but when he entered the household of the future king, Louis-Philippe, he began to read voraciously and then to write. He is best remembered for his historical novels, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Dumas died in 1870. 
 
Robin Buss was a writer and translator who worked for the Independent on Sunday and as television critic for The Times Educational Supplement. He published critical studies of works by Vigny and Cocteau, and three books on European cinema, The French Through Their Films (1988), Italian Films (1989) and French Film Noir (1994). He also translated a number of volumes for Penguin Classics. He died in 2006.

A much-loved swashbuckling tale. Cardinal Richileu's machinations are no match for the Musketeer's determination to act 'one for all and all for one'!

Alexandre Dumas was a French playwright, historian and prolific novelist, penning a string of successful books including The Three Musketeers (1844), The Count of Monte Cristo (1845), and Twenty Years After(1845). His novels have been translated into a hundred different languages and inspired over two hundred films. In his day Dumas was as famous for his financial irresponsibility and flamboyant lifestyle as for his writing. Dumas died in 1870.

'Pure swashbuckling pleasure' Daily Telegraph 
 
 Read this fresh modern translation of Dumas’s great work. 
 
The young D'Artagnan travels to Paris determined to join King Louis XIII's elite guards. Hot-headed and raring to prove himself, D'Artagnan challenges three strangers to a duel. These strangers are none other than the daring band of Musketeers, Porthos, Athos and Aramis. D'Artagnan's fearless spirit impresses them and the Musketeers take him under their wing. Soon, the wicked plots of Cardinal Richelieu and Milady de Winter propel the four musketeers to adventures on horseback, across seas and over rooftops to defend the honour of the Queen and protect the life of the King. This is a rousing tale of thrilling swordplay and royal intrigue, brave friends and the basest treachery.

Stop What You’re Doing and Read…Epic Page-turners: The Count of Monte Cristo & Les Miserables

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO &amp; LES MISERABLES: These two books are the perfect companions to a rainy afternoon - they'll grip you from the first page and plunge you into tales of love against the odds, desperate revenge, and perilous battles for justice and freedom.

What makes The Count Of Monte Cristo such a superior story is that revenge is not the only emotion driving the plot... it is an almost perfect story - also in the mix are love, friendship, jealousy, faith, education, snobbery and class

LES MISERABLES - There are plenty of translations of this extensive, exuberant novel that cut out anything superfluous. But God is in the detail, and Julie Rose has returned all the detail, making a language that is rich and gorgeous. This is the one to read... and if you are flying, just carry it under your arm as you board, or better still, rebook your holiday and go by train, slowly, page by page...

Alexandre Dumas was born on 24 July 1802 in Villers-Cotterêts near Paris.His father, who was the son of a French marquis and a former slave, died when Alexandre was three years old. He was brought up by his mother and later moved to Paris to work as a clerk. He wrote plays, travel books, children's stories and memoirs as well as novels and was a keen traveller and cook. His most famous works are The Three Musketeers (1844) and The Count of Monte Cristo (1844-5). Alexandre Dumas died on 5 December 1870. 
 
Victor Hugo was born on 26 February 1802 at Besançon, where his father, an officer under Napoleon, was stationed. After his parents separated in 1812, Hugo lived in Paris with his mother and brothers. At twenty he married Adele Foucher and published his first poetry collection. Hugo was elected to the Academie Francaise in 1841. The accidental death two years later of his eldest daughter and her husband devastated him and marked the end of his first literary period. By then politics had become central to his life. Though he was a Royalist in his youth, his views became increasingly liberal after the July revolution of 1830. He initially supported Louis Napoleon, but turned against him after being denied a role in government following the coup d'état of 1851 and was forced into exile in Brussels and Jersey. After the fall of the Second Empire in 1870, Hugo returned to France and was re-elected to the National Assembly, and then to the Senate. Hugo is celebrated as a politician, a social campaigner, a poet and a novelist. His most famous works include Notre Dame de Paris (1831) and Les Misérables (1862). Victor Hugo died on 22 May 1885 and his state funeral was attended by thousands of mourners.

To mark the publication of Stop What You're Doing and Read This!, a collection of essays celebrating reading, Vintage Classics are releasing 12 limited edition themed ebook 'bundles', to tempt readers to discover and rediscover great books. 
 
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO 
Imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, Edmond Dantès spends fourteen bitter years in a dungeon. When his daring escape plan works he uses all he has learnt during his incarceration to mastermind an elaborate plan of revenge that will bring punishment to those he holds responsible for his fate. No longer the naïve sailor who disappeared into the dark fortress all those years ago, he reinvents himself as the charming, mysterious and powerful Count of Monte Cristo... 
 
LES MISERABLES 
Sensational, dramatic, packed with rich excitement and filled with the sweep and violence of human passions, Les Misérables is one of the greatest adventure stories ever told. It is a novel peopled by colourful characters from the nineteenth-century Parisian underworld; the street children, the prostitutes and the criminals. In telling the story of escaped convict Jean Valjean, and his efforts to reform his ways and care for the little orphan girl he rescues from a life of cruelty, Victor Hugo drew attention to the plight of the poor and oppressed. Les Miserables is a masterful detective story, a comic and tragic story of romance and revolution and, ultimately, a tale of redemption and hope.

From Absinthe to Zest: An Alphabet for Food Lovers

Author of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) was a prolific writer who also wrote plays, short stories, published essays, magazine articles and reportage. In addition to this he was an expert cook and great traveller, whose cosmopolitan outlook is reflected in The Great Dictionary of Cuisine, first published posthumously in 1873. 
 
 
Alan Davidson (1924 - 2003) was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish. In 1999 he compiled the immensely successful Companion to Food, available in Penguin. Alan and his wife, Jane's (1927-2010) translation of Dumas's Le Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine was first published by the Folio Society.

As well as being the author of The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas was also an enthusiastic gourmand and expert cook. His Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine, published in 1873, is an encyclopaedic collection of ingredients, recipes and anecdotes, from Absinthe to Zest via cake, frogs' legs, oysters, Roquefort and vanilla. Included here are recipes for bamboo pickle and strawberry omelette, advice on cooking all manner of beast from bear to kangaroo brought together in a witty and gloriously eccentric culinary compendium.

The finest editions available of the world's greatest classics from Homer to Achebe, Tolstoy to Ishiguro, Proust to Pullman, printed on a fine acid-free, cream-wove paper that will not discolour with age, with sewn, full cloth bindings and silk ribbon markers, and at remarkably low prices. All books include substantial introductions by major scholars and contemporary writers, and comparative chronologies of literary and historical context.

Dumas's most famous story and possibly the most famous historical novel of all time.

THE THREE MUSKETEERS has proved enduringly popular for more than a century and a half. Inspiration for many a movie and TV adaptation, this swashbuckling epic of chivalry, honour and derring-do, set in France during the 1620s, is satisfyingly peopled with romantic heroes, unattainable heroines, kings, queens, cavaliers and criminals, and contains in abundance adventure, espionage, conspiracy, murder, vengeance, love, scandal and suspense. Taking as its starting point the memoirs of the historical Comte d'Artagnan, Dumas's imagination transforms the bit-players of history into larger-than-life characters: d'Artagnan himself, the impetuous young man in pursuit of glory but ever ready to respond to an insult; the beguilingly evil seductress 'Milady' (entirely his own creation) and of course the Three Musketeers of the title, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, whose motto 'all for one, one for all' has come to epitomize devoted friendship. Interwoven amongst them are vivid fictionalized portraits of major historical figures, amongst them the powerful and devious Cardinal Richelieu, the weak and ineffectual Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, his unhappy Spanish queen. Throw in some stolen diamonds, masked balls, purloined letters, a crumbling medieval prison and a great deal of sword-fighting together with a gripping plot, tremendous narrative drive and a hint of discreet humour, and you have a book totally impossible to put down.

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Alexandre Dumas's swashbuckling epic, starring Jamie Glover, Robert Glenister and Timothy Spall.

A BBC Radio 4 dramatisation of Alexandre Dumas’s swashbuckling epic, starring Jamie Glover, Robert Glenister and Timothy Spall.  ‘All for one and one for all’ ...  17th Century France. Dashing young swordsman D’Artagnan heads for Paris, dreaming of serving the King as a member of his elite guard. On arrival, he meets the three musketeers – Athos, Porthos and Aramis – and the four men soon become fast friends.  Together, they strive to outwit the murderous schemes of power-hungry Cardinal Richelieu, and save the Queen from a plot to dishonour her. Their adventures take them on a perilous journey through the French countryside and across the Channel to England...  Now a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman, Matthew Macfadyen, Luke Evans and Ray Stevenson, The Three Musketeers is a thrilling action-adventure full of duelling, danger, courage and camaraderie.  This BBC Radio 4 version was dramatised by James Saunders.

'Dumas is a master of ripping yarns full of fearless heroes, poisonous ladies and swashbuckling adventurers.' The Guardian

What makes The Count Of Monte Cristo such a superior story is that revenge is not the only emotion driving the plot... it is an almost perfect story - also in the mix are love, friendship, jealousy, faith, education, snobbery and class

The Count of Monte Cristo sustained my sanity and my life. It is a beautiful book. Incarceration coupled with interrogation can play cruel tricks on the mind and many are driven to suicide.The book taught me to hope when I was living at my mental limits

Zhuang Zedong, former world table tennis champion and the greatest sportsman in China's history

Dumas's masterpiece presents the true cost of reinvention, in all its painful unrootedness

Alexandre Dumas was born on 24 July 1802 in Villers-Cotterêts near Paris.His father, who was the son of a French marquis and a former slave, died when Alexandre was three years old. He was brought up by his mother and later moved to Paris to work as a clerk. He wrote plays, travel books, children's stories and memoirs as well as novels and was a keen traveller and cook. His most famous works are The Three Musketeers (1844) and The Count of Monte Cristo (1844-5). Alexandre Dumas died on 5 December 1870.

**AS SEEN ON WRITE AROUND THE WORLD WITH RICHARD E GRANT** 
 
A brilliant story of intrigue, retribution, revenge and redemption. 
 
Imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, Edmond Dantès spends fourteen bitter years in a dungeon. When his daring escape plan works, he uses all he has learnt during his incarceration to mastermind an elaborate plan of revenge that will bring punishment to those he holds responsible for his fate. No longer the naïve sailor who disappeared into the dark fortress all those years ago, he reinvents himself as the charming, mysterious and powerful Count of Monte Cristo... 
 
 'Dumas is a master of ripping yarns full of fearless heroes, poisonous ladies and swashbuckling adventurers' Guardian

This extraordinary tale, set against the dramatic upheavals of the years after Napoleon, is more than an adventure story. It is an epic of justice, retribution and self-discovery matched only by Les Misérables in the France of its time.

On the day of his wedding, Edmond Dantes, master mariner, is arrested in Marseille on trumped-up charges and spirited away to the cellars of the Chateau d'If, an impregnable sea fortress in which he is imprisoned indefinitely. Escaping from the chateau by a series of daring manoeuvres, he unearths a great treasure on the island of Monte Cristo, buried there by a former fellow prisoner who bequeaths to him the secret of its whereabouts. Thus armed with unimaginable wealth and embittered by his long imprisonment, he resolves to devote his life to tracking down and punishing those responsible. 
This classic nineteenth-century translation has been revised and updated by Peter Washington, with an introduction by award-winning novelist Umberto Eco.

Penguin Classics

Alexandre Dumas (Author) Alexander Dumas was born in 1802 at Villes-Cotterets. He received very little education but when he entered the household of the future king, Louis-Philippe, he began to read veraciously and then to write. In 1839 he began writing novels dealing with the wars of religion and the Revolution, but he is most remembered for his historical novels, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Richard Pevear (Translator) Richard Pevear, along with his wife Larissa Volokhonsky, has translated works by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Gogol, Bulgakov and Pasternak. They both were twice awarded the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize (for Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov and Tolstoy's Anna Karenina). They are married and live in France.

Young D'Artagnan arrives in Paris to join the King's elite guards, but almost immediately finds he is duelling with some of the very men he has come to swear allegiance to - Porthos, Athos and Aramis, inseparable friends: the Three Musketeers. Soon part of their close band, D'Artagnan's loyalty to his new allies puts him in the deadly path of Cardinal Richlieu's machinations. And when the young hero falls in love with the beautiful but inaccessible Constance, he finds himself in a world of murder, conspiracy and lies, with only the Musketeers to depend on. A stirring nineteenth-century tale of friendship and adventure, The Three Musketeers continues to be one of the most influential and popular pieces of French literature. 
 
Richard Pevear's introduction investigates the controversy of Dumas' literary collaborators, and how important serialisation was to the book's success. This edition also includes notes on the text.

The Women's War

First time in Penguin Classics for this swashbuckling novel, set in the same period as Dumas's best-selling Three Musketeers, only this time with two women brandishing their swords

Alexandre Dumas (1824-95) was a pioneer of the Romantic theatre in France, for which he wrote a series of colourful historical dramas, although it is as a novelist that he is best known today. His works include The Three Musketeers (1844-5), La Reine Margot (1845) and The Count of Monte Cristo (1844-5). 
 
 
Robin Buss is a journalist and translator. For Penguin, his translations include works by Sartre, Zola and, most recently, The Plague by Camus.

The Baron des Canolles is a man torn apart by the civil war that dominates mid-seventeenth century France. For while the naïve Gascon soldier cares little for the politics behind the battles, he is torn apart by a deep passion for two powerful women on opposing sides of the war: Nanon de Lartigues, a keen supporter of the Queen Regent Anne of Austria, and the Victomtesse de Cambes, who supports the rebellious forces of the Princess de Condé. Set around Bordeaux during the first turbulent years of the reign of Louis XIV, The Women's War sees two women taking central stage in a battle for all France. Humorous, dramatic and romantic, it offers a compelling exploration of political intrigue, the power of redemption, the force of love and the futility of war.

The Man in the Iron Mask

Published for the first time in Penguin Classics, this is the conclusion of Dumas's celebrated Musketeers adventures

Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) was the author of more than ninety plays and many novels, including the Three Musketeers trilogy and The Count of Monte Cristo. 
Francine Du Plessix Gray is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-finalist At Home with the Marquis de Sade, among other works. 
Joachim Neugroschel has won three PEN translation awards and the French-American translation prize. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

In the final adventure of the Musketeers, THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK sees D'Artagnan remain in the service of the corrupt King Louis XIV after the Three Musketeers have gone their separate ways. Meanwhile a mysterious prisoner in an iron mask languishes in the Bastille, where he has been for eighteen years. When the destinies of the King and the prisoner converge, D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers must face the ultimate conflict of loyalties. 
 
The Man in the Iron Mask is an incomparabletale of honour, loyalty and adventure.

Alexandre Dumas

Joachim Neugroschel

Puffin Clothbound Classics are stunning collectable hardback editions of some of the best-loved classics in the world - including this charming edition of The Tale of the Nutcracker. 
 
Enter a world of magic and enchantment with Dumas's timeless adaptation of the Nutcracker story. 
 
‘You foolish child, how can you imagine that this doll, which is composed of wood and cloth, can have life, motion and reflection?' 
 
When little Marie receives a rather ugly doll for Christmas, she isn't sure what to make of him. His head is far too large, his legs far too small; but he's certainly excellently dressed! Things take a strange turn on Christmas Eve when, as the clocks strike midnight, the odd little Nutcracker comes to life to do fierce battle against the malevolent Mouse King and his armies. 
 
Full of wonder, weirdness and fantasy, this famous adaptation, which inspired Tchaikovsky's beloved ballet, is a celebration of childhood imagination, full of talking toys, candy kingdoms and dastardly mice.

The Tale of the Nutcracker

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Everyman's Children's Classics has more than 50 titles in print. It offers the finest editions currently available of the world's greatest children's books in handsome, full cloth hardcover bindings. 
 
The library brings back into print major illustrators such as Ivan Bilibin, Kate Greenaway, Arthur Rackham, Nicolas Bentley, Walter Crane, Aubrey Beardsley, Edward Ardizzone, W.Heath Robinson and Mervyn Peake.

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