Falsely accused of treason on the eve of his wedding, young sailor Edmond Dantès is thrown into the island fortress of the Château d'If without trial. After fourteen years in its darkest cell, he escapes and unearths a fortune hidden by a fellow prisoner — and re-emerges as the mysterious Count of Monte Cristo. Armed with immense wealth and a genius for patience, he sets out across Paris, Rome, and the Mediterranean to reward those who stayed loyal and ruin, one by one, the men who destroyed his life. Alexandre Dumas's 1844 masterpiece is the definitive novel of imprisonment, escape, and long-awaited retribution — as thrilling today as on the day it was published.