Books by Alexandre Dumas
“It’s such a marvellous adventure story. It goes back to the days of chivalry in France, and I think this never loses its interest. This is a cape and sword book. A young provincial gentleman, d’Artagnan, coming to Paris with an ambition to become a musketeer—which was part of the royal guard. He fails to get in, and very early on he meets three musketeers and gets into a fight with them; he takes them on one by one and beats them all in a duel. They then strike up an inseparable bond and survive a series of death-defying scrapes, always on the side of justice against the king’s scheming courtiers. It’s such a good story, written with such dashing gusto that I don’t think people can ever get tired of it.” Read more...
The Best Historical Fiction Set in France
David Lawday, Biographer
“It’s a tale as old as time: boy meets girl, boy is wrongly imprisoned for many years, boy escapes, discovers enormous fortune on mysterious Mediterranean island, boy exacts revenge on the people who locked him up in the first place. It was a lockdown read for me: it’s 1200 closely-typed pages, and surprisingly thrilling given how long it is.” Read more...
Novels of the Rich and Wealthy
Andrew Hunter Murray, Comedians & Humorist
Interviews where books by Alexandre Dumas were recommended
Novels of the Rich and Wealthy, recommended by Andrew Hunter Murray
Many of us fantasize about suddenly coming into a great fortune, but literature has often explored the dissatisfaction and moral corruption of the very wealthy. Here, the novelist and broadcaster Andrew Hunter Murray selects five brilliant novels about rich people and reflects on why you probably don’t want to be a billionaire.
The best books on Navigating the Future: a reading list for young adults, recommended by Chris Kutarna
We are living in times of unprecedented uncertainty and upheaval – and of unprecedented progress and opportunity. Chris Kutarna, political scientist and co-author of Age of Discovery, selects five books to help young adults navigate an uncertain future and achieve their full potential.
Jeffrey Archer on Bestsellers
The best books are the ones that tell great stories, says bestselling author and former British politician Jeffrey Archer. Here, he shares some of his favourites, popular novels that went down well with readers but are sometimes still looked down on by the literary establishment.
The Best Historical Fiction Set in France, recommended by David Lawday
Historical fiction offers us emotional insight into impactful historic events and an immersive sense of time and place, says David Lawday, the longtime Economist foreign correspondent and author of a new novel set during the Siege of Paris in 1870. Here he highlights five of the best historical novels set in France of centuries past.
