The Three Musketeers

One of the most celebrated and popular historical romances ever written, The
Three Musketeers tell the story of the early adventures of the young Gascon
gentleman d’Artagnan and his three friends from the regiment of the King’s
Musketeers: Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. Under the watchful eye of their patron
M. de Treville, the four defend the honour of the regiment against the guards
of the Cardinal Richelieu and the honor of the queen against the machinations
of the Cardinal himself as the power struggles of 17th-century France are
vividly played out in the background. But their most dangerous encounter is
with the Cardinal’s spy: Milady, one of literature’s most memorable female
villains. "I do not say there is no character as well-drawn in Shakespeare [as
D’Artagnan]. I do say there is none that I love so wholly." —Robert Louis
Stevenson "A masterpiece which remains as fresh and living as if it were
written yesterday." —Jean Lucas-Dubreton "Dumas had genius of a certain kind —
the genius that comes of vigour and a sense of the dramatic." —André Maurois