The Three Musketeers

Alexandre Dumas' thrilling tale of bravery, brotherhood and the triumph of good over evil, The Three Musketeers is translated with an introduction by Richard Pevear in Penguin Classics.

'All for one, one for all - that is our motto!'

Young d'Artagnan arrives in Paris to join King's Louis XIII'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. 

In this acclaimed new translation, 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.

Alexandre Dumas (1802-70) was a pioneer of the Romantic theatre in France, but in 1839 he turned his attention to writing the novels for which he is best known today, pften using collaborators such as Auguste Maquet to suggest plots or historical background. His most famous works include The Three Musketeers (1844), The Count of Monte Cristo (1844-5) and The Man in the Iron Mask (1847).

If you enjoyed The Three Musketeers, you might like Dumas' The Man in the Iron Mask, also available in Penguin Classics.