The Man in the Iron Mask

For years a young man known only as Philippe has languished in the Bastille, ignorant of the crime for which he has been condemned, until a visitor reveals the circumstances of his imprisonment. It is a story of concealed identity, dishonour and treachery that could destroy the French monarchy.

Alexandre Dumas (pere) (1802-1870) was the son of a distinguished General in the Republican Army. Interested in writing from an early age, Dumas left for Paris where he found work in the household of the Duc D'Orleans. He soon found success writing historical plays and gained important friendships, money and the Librarianship of the Palais Royale. By 1832 his plays were celebrated throughout France, but he contracted cholera and was sent to Switzerland to convalesce. There he took to writing travel books and eventually turned to fiction, primarily adventure stories and historical novels, for which he has an enduring reputation. Other titles by this remarkable author available in Wordsworth Classics: The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.