Bienvenue à Marseille | 2025 The Count of Monte Christo, read-a-long

@JaninaDuszejko Are all the places mentioned in the book real and geographically correct? Of course, I have heard of some of the place names but never thought that the islands etc would be how the book described. If so I will also look at the maps of France and surrounding areas.

It's great to read about Dantes's sailing knowledge when he was rescued from the water. He competently sailed the boat, taking over from their captain. This shows that Dantes was quite rightly considered for promotion on the Paraeon.

I know! Not a bother on him!
Clearly he's superhuman.

I think Plage des Catalans was too much of a risk (and too far from the treasure!)

Yeah, I was looking at the map and thinking, surely there was a closer uninhabited island than Tiboulen. Plage des Catalans was a lot closer!

I'm also very impressed that despite an atrocious diet and no exercise for 14 years he's still capable of that long swim in a rough sea. Edmund is clearly superhuman.

So exciting! Today I was thinking, imagine the light! After all that time in that cell!

I did a lot of looking at Google maps again today. That’s some swim! For anyone who has done any outdoor swimming, 5k in rough seas is no joke.

I think maybe in France Dumas’ works are regarded a bit like we now regard YA? Or like Kidnapped or Treasure Island. Swashbuckling stuff that you read as a teenager.

A children's classic?! No, I don't think so.
Or else I'm a big kid :) I'm delighted that Dantès has made his escape.

Well I had patience and didn't read until today. But it was the FIRST thing I did with a cup of coffee!

Didn't disappoint!

Chapter 21

The Island of Tiboulen

• Miraculously – there's really no other word for it – Edmond manages to cut himself out of the sack and struggle free of the cannonball. He swims desperately in the rough seas, and after some quick and tortured thinking, he decides that he must swim to one of two islands, Tiboulen or Lemaire, both of which are a league – about three miles – away. Encouraged by the memory of Faria, he manages to make it Tiboulen. Yes, that's right, he swims three miles after being thrown off a cliff with a cannonball attached to his leg.
• He immediately collapses on the shore and falls asleep.
• Awoken by a clap of thunder, he soon sees a small fishing boat off in the distance. He watches as the boat breaks apart and the sailors are thrown into the sea.
• Edmond, afraid that his escape will be discovered soon, realizes he needs to get going. The next morning, he sees another boat off in the distance, but afraid that his ragged clothing will tip off the sailors as to his true identity, hesitates in flagging him down.
• Then he notices that the cap of one of the drowned sailors has washed ashore, and decides to take a chance. He takes the cap, leaps into the sea, and grabs onto a floating beam from the other ship's wreckage. After anxiously waiting to be seen by the other ship, he finally manages to get their attention. They send out a small rowboat, and soon enough he's on the ship.
• Edmond tells the ship's captain that he's a Maltese seaman that washed ashore on Tiboulen in the middle of yesterday's storm. They're a little skeptical of his story – his long beard and hair make him look more than a little odd – but they decide to take him in anyway.
• He quickly impresses them with his nautical knowledge by showing them a shortcut to Leghorn. Edmond then promises to pay them back for any food and clothing they give him if they pay him a regular sailor's wage. Jacopo, the sailor who hoisted Edmond from the sea, agrees to lend Edmond some clothing. Edmond is grateful for clothing, and for the food and drink he's given him soon after.
• Only a short time later, the captain sees a puff of smoke rise above the Chateau d'If. Edmond tells them that that means a prisoner has recently escaped. The captain is suspicious, but he gives Edmond a free pass on account of his abilities.
• Edmond turns to Jacopo and asks him what day and month it is; Jacopo quickly replies, but he's confused when Edmond goes on to ask him what year it is.
• Jacopo tells him that it's February 28th, 1829 – fourteen years, to the day, after Edmond was first imprisoned.
• Thinking it over, Edmond feels the urge to get his revenge on the three men responsible for locking him up for so long.

God, I’m slow - there was me thinking he should be ransacking the abbe’s cell for all his tools/manuscripts etc and not even thinking about escape!

Managed to restrain myself last night from reading ahead but can’t wait to read on….

in other news, I am reading Shy Creatures which has just referred to TCOMC as a children’s classic - really?

I am muting this thread for a while as I read ahead and eventually devoured the whole thing. I want to say that this book is WORTH IT, even when you may lose some steam partway through. What a read! I feel like it has ruined me for future novels as it was just so so good. Enjoy!

I did think he might do the whole body swap thing but I was not expecting the burial at sea! Bloody good job he took that knife with him I'm guessing! Reading my chapter, then rushing on here to read the comments, is fast becoming one of the highlights of my day.

I am still here! Got a bit behind over the weekend and had to catch up.

I'm surprised the story bolts along so quickly and is so readable even when it's just Dante trapped in a cell. I can't wait to see what happens next!

I'm another one that skipped ahead! I do love the twists in this book, they keep coming

I love that we are all slowly cheating so we can read on. Clearly buying the book of a serialisation was the binge watch of the 19th century 😂

I did carry on listening to chapter 21, but only because I’ve got a busy day ahead in work tomorrow… 😁

Spoiler: he doesn't, the rest of the book is his ghost haunting his enemies.

(that may or may not be true 😎)

Goodness me! I kind of guessed he might do the body impersonation bit to escape but how is he going to survive this?

Holy moly what a cliffhanger! I might have to read ahead 😅

Well! I certainly didn't see it coming!
Had to read the next few lines and then put the book away.

I love the last line of the chapter - "The Château d'If cemetery was the sea!"

Had to read to the end of volume 1, I just couldn't put it down. Nail biting stuff.

I just knew I would get sucked in to learning more about Napoleon. I've just started Napoleon: A Life in Gardens and Shadows by Ruth Scurr which combines two of my favourite subjects - history and gardening 😀

How will he survive the cannonball?!

Chapter 20

The Graveyard of the Chateau D'If

• Once everyone leaves the cell, Edmond heads over to look at Faria's sack-covered body.
• After despairing and contemplating suicide, he suddenly gets a brilliant idea.
• Using Faria's tools, he cuts a whole in the sack and removes Faria's body. After putting the body in his own bed and covering it in bedsheets, he gets into the sack and sews himself inside.
• He has a plan of attack all thought out:
• If the guards figure out he, a living man, is inside the bag, he'll cut it open with the knife, scare them, then run.
• If they bury him, he'll wait for a suitable moment to dig himself out of the grave – which will no doubt be shallow – then run.
• If he can't get out of the grave, then so be it. He was probably going to end up dying anyway.
• After suffering the whole night through, Edmond finally hears the guards enter. He gets confused when he hears them discussing "the knot."
• The guards carry him a short while, then stop. A moment later, he feels a rope being tied around his feet. Now the guards are discussing the roughness of the sea; one remarks, "Yes, the abbé runs a serious risk of getting wet".
• Edmond is confused. Suddenly, he can feel the guards swinging him, and then he's falling, flying through the air. He cries out the moment he hits the water. He's being dragged to the bottom of the sea by the thirty-six pound cannonball attached to his legs.

I have been reading if not commenting the last week (as work and admin seem to have got in the way).

I have to agree with everyone as to how readable it is (against my expectations) and I love how resourceful the abbe was - Edmond would have been lost (and possibly dead or insane) without him.