For nineteen-year-old Edmond Dantes, life is sweet. Soon to be
captain of his own sip, he is also about to be married to his true
love, Mercedes. But suddenly everything turns sour. On the joyous
day of his wedding he is arrested and--without a fair
trial--condemned to solitary confinement in the miserable Chateau
d'If! The charges? Faked! Edmond has been framed by a handful of
powerful enemies. But why?

While locked away, Edmond learns from another prisoner of a
secret treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo. Edmond
concocts a daring and audacious plan: escape and find the treasure!
But it is years later--long after Edmond has transformed himself
into the Count of Monte Cristo--that his plan for revenge begins to
unfold.

Disguised as the wealthy count, Edmond returns to his native
land to find his enemies--and make them pay!

(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed) Alexandre Dumas's epic novel of
justice, retribution, and self-discovery--one of the most
enduringly popular adventure tales ever written--in a newly revised
translation. This beloved novel tells the story of Edmond Dantes,
wrongfully imprisoned for life in the supposedly impregnable sea
fortress, the Chateau d'If. After a daring escape, and after
unearthing a hidden treasure revealed to him by a fellow prisoner,
he devotes the rest of his life to tracking down and punishing the
enemies who wronged him. Though a brilliant storyteller, Dumas was
given to repetitions and redundancies; this slightly streamlined
version of the original 1846 English translation speeds the
narrative flow while retaining most of the rich pictorial
de*ions and all the essential details of Dumas's intricately
plotted and thrilling masterpiece.

Author Biography: Alexandre Dumas, pere (French for "father",
akin to 'Senior' in English), born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (24
July 1802 -- 5 December 1870) was a French writer, best known for
his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made
him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. Many
of his novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three
Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne were
serialized. He also wrote plays and magazine articles and was a
prolific correspondent. Introducer Biography: Italian novelist
Umberto Eco is best-known for The Name of the Rose (published in
Everyman) but has published many other works of fiction, literary
criticism, history and philosophy.