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The Last Cavalier

Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-Hermine in the Age of Napoleon

Audiobook
2 of 2 copies available
2 of 2 copies available

The discovery of Dumas's last, incomplete novel, lost and completely unknown to historians for more than a century, was a literary bombshell. The Last Cavalier is Dumas's swan song, a rousing adventure that completes his epic retelling of French history from the Renaissance (La Reine Margot) to his present day (The Count of Monte Cristo) by filling in that one vital, dramatic era that was missing: the Age of Napoleon.

A tale of family honor and heroic derring-do, The Last Cavalier follows the fortunes of young Hector, Count de Sainte-Hermine, who has sworn an oath to avenge his Royalist family members' deaths by fighting against Napoleon. When he is defeated, he is sentenced to serve as a common soldier in Napoleon's imperial forces. Though he courts death fearlessly, Hector's daring deeds will change his destiny—and Napoleon's.

It is rousing, big spirited, its action sweeping across oceans and continents, its hero gloriously indomitable. This newly discovered last novel of Alexandre Dumas, lost for 125 years in the archives of the National Library in Paris, completes the Dumas oeuvre.

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  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from September 10, 2007
      This first English translation of the last, previously unknown novel by Dumas (1802–1870) offers a stunning completion to his fictional mapping of French history. The plot centers on Compte Hector de Sainte Hermine, a royalist captured and imprisoned by Bonaparte. Part one finds him caught in the political intrigue of 1801–1804, as Napoleon moves from first consul to emperor. In part two, Hector, now known as René, is released from jail; he signs onto a French corsair as a common seaman, but his noble birth, superb education and martial abilities soon elevate him in rank. The next 300 pages slosh with swashbuckling sea adventure, casting heroic romance against the background of Napoleon’s ultimate fall. It’s Dumas at his best, but alloyed: asides; minibiographies; commentaries on fashion, manners, geography and history; and flashbacks pile up unendingly, leavened with farcical humor and witty punditry. Although it lacks the polish of The Three Musketeers
      and the concision of The Count of Monte Cristo
      , this capacious, rambling, unfinished account of the Napoleonic era represents vintage Dumas and an intensely personal vision of the time.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Text Difficulty:9-12

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