In the court of King Henri III Valois, ever swarming with rebellion and intrigue, the reckless and honourable Comte de Bussy, one of the nobles of the King's brother le Duc d'Anjou, incurs the wrath of the King's minions. To escape the trap they set for him, he bursts into the house that happens to be behind him, the door of which is miraculously open. Wounded, he faints, and does not know that a doctor is secretly summoned to treat him. When he recovers, he finds himself far away from this house, yet he remembers, as in a dream, the face of a woman lovelier than any he'd ever seen. Convinced that the face is real, he sets out to find the house. He meets the doctor, who is also intrigued by the secrecy, and together they find the correct door. Thus, Bussy accidentally finds out the drama that goes on within the house, and the touching and hopeless story of Diana, la Dame de Monsoreau. Guided by his overpowering love, he offers her his protection against the malicious and wild jealousy of her husband, against the lust of the traitorous Duc d'Anjou, and against the coldness of rest of the world. The love of Bussy and Diana flourishes against the background of the civil unrest in France. Their story, the story of the King and his only friend the Jester Chicot, mingle and intertwine with the other stories of love, friendship, hate, and treachery, which bring the book to the dramatic and irrevocable climax.--Submitted by Eugenie Isabelle
About the Author: Alexandre Dumas (French, born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie; 24 July 1802 - 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas, père, was a French writer. His works have been translated into nearly 100 languages, and he is one of the most widely read French authors. Many of his historical novels of high adventure were originally published as serials, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years Later. His novels have been adapted since the early twentieth century for nearly 200 films. Dumas' last novel, The Knight of Sainte-Hermine, unfinished at his death, was completed by a scholar and published in 2005, becoming a bestseller. It was published in English in 2008 as The Last Cavalier. Prolific in several genres, Dumas began his career by writing plays, which were successfully produced from the first. He also wrote numerous magazine articles and travel books; his published works totaled 100,000 pages. In the 1840s, Dumas founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris. Dumas' father (general Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie) was born in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) to a French nobleman and an enslaved African woman. At age 14, Thomas-Alexandre was taken by his father to France, where he was educated in a military academy and entered the military for what he made as an illustrious career. His father's aristocratic rank helped young Alexandre acquire work with Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans. He later began working as a writer, finding early success. Decades later, in the election of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte in 1851, Dumas fell from favor, and left France for Belgium, where he stayed for several years. Upon leaving Belgium, Dumas moved to Russia for a few years, before going to Italy. In 1861 he founded and published the newspaper, L' Indipendente, which supported the Italian unification effort. In 1864 he returned to Paris.