The Three Musketeers

'The name of Alexandre Dumas is more than French, it is European; it is more than European, it is universal.' - Victor Hugo ' Dumas was] the most generous, large-hearted being in the world. He also was the most delightfully amusing and egotistical creature on the face of the earth. His tongue was like a windmill - once set in motion, you never knew when he would stop, especially if the theme was himself.' - Watts Phillips, playwright and artist. 'Words never failed Alexandre Dumas. In his maniacally productive writing career, he pumped out millions and millions of them: some good, some bad and all indifferent to any value other than propelling a story forward at the giddiest possible pace, if not, perhaps, with optimum fuel efficiency. Dumas's novels are shameless word-guzzlers, big and plush and almost sinfully comfortable: ideal vehicles for the long, scenic excursions into French history he regularly conducted for the newspaper readers of mid-19th-century Paris.' -- Terrence