The Last Cavalier: Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-Hermine in the Age of Napoleon - Softcover

‘Dumas is a master of ripping yarns full of fearless heroes, poisonous ladies and swashbuckling adventurers.’
The Guardian

‘Absolutely wonderful...Alexandre Dumas remains, now as ever, the Napoleon of storytellers.' Washington Post, Top Ten Book for 2007

'This first English translation of the last, previously unknown novel by Dumas offers a stunning completion to his fictional mapping of French history...This capacious account of the Napoleonic era represents vintage Dumas and an intensely personal vision of the time.' Publishers Weekly

‘A gallant romp through post-revolutionary French history.' New York Times Book Review

'A hit from the vaults: Dumas père's final work...a grand tale of adventure. A big book, and a pleasure for anyone who thrills at the likes of D'Artagnan and company.’ Kirkus Review

'Reviews have been unanimous in praising “The Last Cavalier”: The novel is a reminder that readers are always willing to make time for epic storytelling when the narrative is in the hands of a master.' Los Angeles Times

‘It isn't every publishing season that one gets to welcome a new book by the author of “The Three Musketeers”, “The Count of Monte Cristo”, and “The Man in the Iron Mask”. Or, consequently, to lose oneself afresh – for hundreds of headlong pages – in a state that one can only characterise as narrative bliss, borne along on a stream of daring adventures that courses from dishonour to glory, with all sorts of diverting hurdles and obstacles along the way...with enough plot and passion for a dozen novels, “The Last Cavalier” is sheer delight.’ Barnes and Noble Review

‘“The Last Cavalier” reads like a Dumas classic. James Bond, Indiana Jones, and many others owe a deep debt to Dumas, who stuffs his tales with thrilling exploits and exotic locales. No one with a pulse will be able to resist Dumas' lost classic.’ Christian Science Monitor

The lost final novel by the master of the epic swashbuckling adventure stories: The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.

The last cavalier is Count de Sainte-Hermine, Hector, whose elder brothers and father have fought and died for the Royalist cause during the French Revolution. For three years Hector has been languishing in prison when, in 1804, on the eve of Napoleon's coronation as emperor of France he learns what is to be his due. Stripped of his title, denied the honour of his family name as well as the hand of the woman he loves, he is freed by Napoleon on the condition that he serves in the imperial forces. So it is in profound despair that Hector embarks on a succession of daring escapades as he courts death fearlessly. Yet again and again he wins glory - against brigands, bandits, the British, boa constrictors, sharks, tigers and crocodiles. At the Battle of Trafalgar it is his bullet that fells Nelson. But however far his adventures take him - from Burma's jungles to the wilds of Ireland - his destiny lies always with his father's enemy, Napoleon.