'On what slender threads do life and fortune hang'

Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantés is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration. Dumas' epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment was a huge popular success when it was first serialized in the 1840's.

I've wanted to read this since I visited the Chateau d'If when I was in France. I saw the escape hole used by the wrongly convicted prisoner, and felt the oppressive darkness and coldness of the building. A horrible place to be locked up, but a beautiful spot to visit. It's a much bigger book than I was expecting, but I hope to get to it as it's part of the BBC Big Read.