I’m excited to read this book as I loved Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo which is now one of my favourite books, so I am very keen to read more from this author, plus I do love a series and there are a few in this Musketeers series so I have plenty to go at!
I’m excited to read this book as I loved Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo which is now one of my favourite books, so I am very keen to read more from this author, plus I do love a series and there are a few in this Musketeers series so I have plenty to go at!
The story begins in 1625, when d’Artagnan, at the age of 18, leaves his home town hoping to join the Musketeers. He has a letter of recommendation from his father to Treville, who is captain of the Musketeers, however on the way he gets into a fight with a man who then steals this letter. When he meets Treville, he is told that he has to prove himself by doing guard duty first before being able to join the Musketeers. He swiftly impresses three of the Musketeers, Porthos and Aramis and Athos, with his bravery and loyalty, and also with his impulsiveness and quarrelsome spirit as he offended each one and was challenged by them all individually to a duel. They are constant companions thereafter sharing funds and fights, even though duels are banned at that time. Treville’s Musketeers are soldiers loyal to King of France Louis 13th, whereas the Guards of the Cardinal are soldiers loyal to Cardinal Richelieu, so there are often battles between these two groups of soldiers. Cardinal Richelieu is plotting to discredit the King’s wife, Queen Anne of Austria, as he has discovered that she is in love with the Duke of Buckingham of England and has given him her brooch studded with diamonds so Cardinal Richelieu hopes to bring about her downfall by arranging for two of the diamonds on the brooch to be stolen by his co-conspirator Milady de Winter while the brooch is in the Duke’s possession in England and then to suggest that the Queen wears the brooch at a party so he can demonstrate that she gave the brooch to the Duke and is therefore disloyal to the King. Meanwhile, d’Artagnan falls in love with the Queen’s seamstress Madame Bonacieux, however she is also his landlord’s wife. Madame Bonacieux tells d’Artagnan of Cardinal Richelieu’s plot against the Queen and he vows to do all he can to help the Queen. Hmmm, I’m struggling a little with this book, which is disappointing, I know the book is obviously of a very different time to today but there seems such a disregard for human life and little niggles escalate so quickly into sword fights where someone is wounded or killed! This is particularly so with d’Artagnan who seems to react so dramatically to just the slightest look from someone and is so quick to take offence, but surely to be a Musketeer, ie, someone of the King’s guards, as he wishes to be, then a degree of self-control and an ability to calmly analyse a situation would be required! But then Porthos and Athos and Aramis aren’t much better as they are also very ready to just launch into a duel at the drop of a hat, and I’m disappointed that they rate d’Artagnan highly based on his impulsivity and the fact he had challenged them all to a duel. But perhaps these are the qualities which were prized then, and indeed the Musketeers as a whole seem to always be involved in skirmishes with the Guards of the Cardinal and to be deliberately provoking each other. I am finding all the sword-fighting and bravado uncomfortable though, as well as really quite pointless and futile. I’m also struggling to connect with any of the main characters, probably because of their bravado and disregard for life, so I’m finding it difficult at the moment to care for them or be interested in what happens to them. And there are a lot of characters being introduced too, and my knowledge of French history isn’t good, so I am struggling a little to keep up with it all, I can tell I’m going to have to concentrate with this book in order to keep everything straight in my head! But there seems a good collection of potential baddies and plotting going on! I am interested that an Englishman has been introduced, and I see on the wonderful Wikipedia that the Duke of Buckingham was a real person (well, there were many of these Dukes of Buckingham as the title was passed down through the generations) so I’m intrigued about a real person being brought into this fictional story, I presume the Duke of Buckingham in this story was the first George Villiers as the dates of him having the title fit with this story being set in 1625. However, interestingly I see that one of the Dukes built Buckingham House which later became Buckingham Palace! Anyway, I won’t read too much further on the Buckinghams in case some of the plot of this story is accidentally revealed to me!
D’Artagnan and the Musketeers journey to England to try and foil the plot against the Queen. They are attacked several times on the way, they presume by Cardinal Richelieu’s men, but they’ve agreed between themselves that if one of them is injured on this mission then they will be left behind in order to ensure that the mission can continue. D’Artagnan is the only one of the four who make it to England, although he was challenged by Comte de Wardes on the way and left that gentleman badly injured. He reaches the Duke of Buckingham who then ensures that the two missing diamonds from the brooch are replaced and vows eternal gratitude to d’Artagnan, who heads back to France and restores the brooch to the Queen in time for the party and the Queen vows her eternal gratitude to him, and Madame Bonacieux also vows her love for him. Meanwhile, Madame Bonacieux’s husband was briefly imprisoned in the Bastille and then released by Rochefort (who is known as the Red Duke and works for Cardinal Richelieu) so he is now in the power of Rochefort. Madame Bonacieux is then abducted by Rochefort, and d’Artagnan pleads with Treville that she be searched for and Treville promises to request this from the Queen but also advises d’Artagnan to flee before Cardinal Richelieu’s men come for him. D’Artagnan follows this advice and also decides to seek for Porthos and Athos and Aramis in whatever state they may be after their mission to restore the Queen’s brooch, so follows the route they took earlier towards England. Well, eventually d’Artagnan thinks about his friends and what might have happened to them! I can’t believe how long it’s taken him, I couldn’t relax knowing they were potentially dying somewhere and I am really shocked by his lack of care, it’s supposed to be ‘all for one, and one for all’ and yet they just left one other in peril! I know they’d all agreed to do this and that the priority was the successfulness of the mission and nothing was to delay or hinder that, but surely it wouldn’t have taken very long to just check on each other quickly, or even for d’Artagnan to go back and look for his friends after he had returned successfully from the mission, but no! Maybe I just don’t understand the rules of that time, but what does the ‘honour’ and ‘valour’ the Musketeers so prize actually mean if not looking out for one another? However, the whole mission to retrieve the brooch was very exciting to read, with them dealing with all the perils and rushing to get to the Duke in time, Dumas certainly does write tension and drama very well! But phew, the complicated plots continue aplenty with Madame Bonacieux now having been abducted and there seeming to be more behind this abduction than first appears with her husband perhaps being involved in the abduction too. And I am getting a little confused with some of the other people in the main characters’ lives, so I have jotted down who is who so I can try and keep track. So d’Artagnan’s mistress is Madame Bonacieux and his servant is Planchet, Porthos’ mistress is Duchess Coquenard and his servant is Mousqueton, Aramis’ mistress is Madame de Chevreuse (who advises the Queen) and his servant is Bazin, and Athos’ servant is Grimaud (I don’t think we know of a mistress for him?).
D’Artagnan finds Porthos who is recovering well from his injuries, though has gambled all his money away. He also finds Aramis who has also recovered from his injuries and is about to become a monk due to being rejected by his mistress but he abandons this plan when he realises his mistress still loves him. He also finds Athos who has also recovered from his injuries but has barricaded himself in the cellar of the bar he was left in, drinking all the wine and eating all the hams, and is often very low in mood yet refuses to tell d’Artagnan what saddens him. But after being in the wine cellar for several weeks extremely drunk, Athos finally tells d’Artagnan his history which is that he discovered that his beautiful wife had a fleur-de-lis brand on her shoulder which meant that she had stolen from a church, he then guessed that the man she had told him was her brother was actually really her lover that she’d escaped prison with, and so Athos then hanged her. However, the following morning, Athos tries to pretend to d’Artagnan that this was a story about someone else, not him. Meanwhile d’Artagnan takes part in a duel with Lord de Winter, whose brother (now dead) married Milady de Winter. Lord de Winter is impressed with d’Artagnan’s gentlemanly behaviour in the duel, as he spared Lord de Winter’s life when he won the duel, and so Lord de Winter introduces him to Milady de Winter. She recognises d’Artagnan as having been involved in foiling Cardinal Richelieu’s plot against the Queen and tries to get information from him to confirm this, but d’Artagnan is cautious with the information he gives her, although he admires her greatly and is intrigued by her as he remembers that she is Cardinal Richelieu’s conspirator and was sent to steal the diamonds from the Queen’s brooch in order to frame the Queen. Hmmm, I’m getting more and more interested in Athos, he seems the most thoughtful and deep of the four and to be less superficial, it seems like he has experienced life’s troubles and been shaped by them and indeed struggles to deal with the after-effects of them, which makes him seem like a more rounded character and I find myself feeling sorry for him and beginning to care for him (though I’m still struggling to care for the others), and of course his story of his wife was fascinating though quite surprising with how it all escalated and how he hanged her, I wasn’t expecting that but perhaps at that time you had to take matters into your own hands, was there a functioning judicial system then in France? And I’m also intrigued by the fact that Athos and Porthos and Aramis all seem to be assumed names, and even more intrigued that Athos says that under his true name he is believed to be dead! Milady de Winter also intrigues me, she is very feisty and determined and independent in a man’s world, which is refreshing in this book which seems to be very much focused on men’s bravado and dominance!
Things develop between d’Artagnan and Milady de Winter, though Athos warns him against becoming involved with her but d’Artagnan says he is trying to gain her trust as he believes she has information on the whereabouts of Madame Bonacieux, although secretly he is also falling in love with her and she encourages his affections and advances. However, he then realises that she is fooling him as she is actually in love with Comte de Wardes (the man d’Artagnan almost killed on his mission to England), and he also realises that she is plotting vengeance against him for foiling Cardinal Richelieu’s plans with the Queen’s brooch as this caused Cardinal Richelieu to be angry at her. D’Artagnan seduces Milady de Winter’s maid, Kitty, in order to get more information about Milady de Winter, and he also revenges himself against Milady de Winter by writing letters to her pretending to be from Comte de Wardes saying he rejects her. Milady de Winter then requests d’Artagnan kill Comte de Wardes and gives him a sapphire ring as a reward for his loyalty, and Athos later recognises this ring. Hmmm, d’Artagnan declares he loves Madame Bonacieux but he seems to pretty quickly forget her with his infatuation for Milady, and then again with him sleeping with Milady’s maid Kitty, and I’m not sure he can say these actions are just to try and discover more information about either Milady de Winter or Madame Bonacieux! And oooh, with Athos recognising the sapphire ring that Milady de Winter gave to d’Artagnan, could this possibly mean that Milady de Winter is Athos’ ex-wife? Although no, because he hanged her, didn’t he?
D’Artagnan forgets his fears and suspicions of Milady de Winter in his madness of being in love with her and to sleep with her, so he then confesses to her that the letters from Comte de Wardes were actually written by him pretending to be that gentleman. She is very angry and tries to kill him, and in their struggle a fleur-de-lis is revealed on her shoulder. D’Artagnan escapes and immediately tells Athos of the fleur-de-lis and that this must mean that Milady de Winter is his ex-wife. Athos warns d’Artagnan to be very careful of her and not to go out alone. They sell Milady de Winter’s sapphire ring in order to gain funds to equip themselves in the forthcoming Battle of La Rochelle which they must fight in as Musketeers, and they also ensure Kitty’s safety before they leave by finding her a job with a lady of Aramis’ acquaintance, and they then depart for the battle. Whilst waiting at the camp for the battle to begin, d’Artagnan is summoned to Cardinal Richelieu’s presence, who tells him that his bravery is much admired but there have been many complaints made about him, though Cardinal Richelieu has so far protected d’Artagnan from the effects of these complaints, and he offers d’Artagnan a place in his Guards of the Cardinal (as d’Artagnan is not yet a Musketeer). D’Artagnan politely refuses this offer, explaining that he has friends in the Musketeers and wishes to join them and that he has enemies in the Guards of the Cardinal, and Cardinal Richelieu accepts this refusal but warns d’Artagnan that this means he can no longer protect him. Milady de Winter is also in the area of the battle and points out d’Artagnan to two men with her, who then follow him and twice attempt to kill him when he is walking alone. One of the men is killed and the other then confesses to d’Artagnan that they were ordered to try and kill him by Milady de Winter and that she also employed them to steal Madame Bonacieux after she had been rescued from her original abductors. Eeeek, so Milady de Winter is indeed Athos’ ex-wife, oooh, what a wonderful twist, I am admiring Dumas’ imagination and plot twists, and what a wonderful baddie Milady de Winter is, having now stolen Madame Bonacieux too, she certainly seems to always be one step ahead of d’Artagnan! Though Madame Bonacieux seems quite a contrasting female character to Milady de Winter, not being spirited or able to defend herself at all as she seems to be constantly being abducted!
The Battle of La Rochelle, which is between England and France, then proceeds. The residents of the city of La Rochelle (known as the Huguenots) are Protestants (whereas the rest of France are Catholic) and it was agreed by Henry 4th of France that they could live safely as Protestants in La Rochelle and that city be independent from the rest of France and govern themselves, but King Louis and Cardinal Richelieu are now seeking to reverse this privilege. La Rochelle has the support of England, who are also Protestant, who bring the town supplies by ship while it is under siege and the city is well-defended and impregnable, but the King and Cardinal Richelieu order their men to build a sea wall which then prevents supplies to the city being brought to them by ships. The Duke of Buckingham, fighting for England, and Cardinal Richelieu, fighting for France, are also trying to destroy each other due to the Duke of Buckingham’s relationship with the Queen. The King is taken unwell so Porthos and Aramis and Athos are sent to be with him whilst d’Artagnan stays at the battle. D’Artagnan is then sent some wine apparently from his three friends, but when a servant drinks some of the wine he dies so d’Artagnan realises the wine had been poisoned and suspects Milady de Winter of doing this. When he speaks to his friends about this, they advise him to either threaten Milady de Winter by saying he will expose her as a branded woman, or to kill her. The four of them also vow to try and rescue Madame Bonacieux. Oooh, I was quite interested in the history of La Rochelle, particularly it being independent from France and having English support, and it looks a stunning place too from the pictures of it. And Milady de Winter seems extremely vengeful, I’m not confident that d’Artagnan is clever enough to defeat her, she seems so devious and full of wicked ideas and schemes, wow, what a character, she is certainly becoming one of the most memorable people in this book, and I’m still fascinated by the thought that she was once the wife of my other favourite character, Athos, and I’d love to know more of their relationship together, although from the brief details he said to d’Artagnan whilst drunk in the cellar it seems like she was lying to him from the start, bless him.
Athos overhears Cardinal Richelieu giving Milady de Winter the task of going to England in order to advise the Duke of Buckingham to halt his plans to join with the Spanish and Austrians to support La Rochelle against France, and for her to tell the Duke of Buckingham that Cardinal Richelieu can produce evidence that he and the Queen have met and are in love. Cardinal Richelieu then tells her that if these threats fail to convince the Duke not to support La Rochelle then she is to find someone to kill him. Milady de Winter asks Cardinal Richelieu in return that he ensures Madame Bonacieux and d’Artagnan are killed, and he immediately writes an order to send both of them to the Bastille assuring her they will be killed there. Athos later goes to Milady de Winter’s room and reveals himself to her as her husband, the Comte de la Fere. He tells her he knows of all her actions regarding Madame Bonacieux and d’Artagnan and the Comte de Wardes, and her part in Cardinal Richelieu’s plot regarding the Queen’s brooch, and that Cardinal Richelieu has instructed her to ensure the Duke of Buckingham’s assassination, and that she has arranged for d’Artagnan’s death too. He demands that she give him Cardinal Richelieu’s written order regarding d’Artagnan and Madame Bonacieux, and she angrily hands this over. She is then later collected by Cardinal Richelieu’s men to take her by boat to England, as arranged. Athos discusses with the others what they will do regarding the Duke of Buckingham, and they decide to write to Lord de Winter in England, as he is Milady de Winter’s brother-in-law, telling him of her plans regarding the Duke of Buckingham, and that her first husband is alive so her marriage to his brother was illegal, and also informing him about the branding on her shoulder, and recommending that he meets her on her arrival in England and imprisons her. Lord de Winter duly does this, telling her he now knows all about her treachery and saying that she will be kept prisoner in his castle for 15 days and then be sent to one of the colonies. They also send a letter to Aramis’ mistress (who advises the Queen) requesting that she warns the Queen of the assassination plot against the Duke of Buckingham. D’Artagnan is also officially made a Musketeer. Phew, the tension and plotting and counter-plotting, this is such a dramatic book! And it seems that Milady de Winter has finally been stopped, thanks to Athos’ quick action. I’m a bit confused with Lord de Winter though, his name sounds French and yet he seems to be in England! But wow, how huge this book is, comprising two different countries and also including points in history such as the Battle of La Rochelle, it really seems a huge undertaking and I am full of admiration for Dumas as a wonderfully ambitious story-teller!
Milady de Winter manages to charm one of Lord de Winter’s men, Felton, by telling him a tale of her being abducted and raped by the Duke of Buckingham when a young girl and when she threatened to expose him he branded her as a prostitute so she would not be believed. Felton believes her and helps her escape and he kills the Duke of Buckingham. He realises when he is being dragged off to prison though, that Milady de Winter had fooled him. Arrrgh, no, the Duke is dead, I am so sad! But wow, Milady de Winter is such a determined lady, she doesn’t let anything daunt her and is so clever in getting what she wants, part of me has to admire her, even though I am shocked by what she has done! And I see on Wikipedia that the Duke of Buckingham was indeed killed by a man called Felton, though this was apparently due to Felton’s anger at being passed over for promotion, and I have to say that the real Duke of Buckingham doesn’t sound anything like the heroic gentleman that he is portrayed as in this book!
Milady de Winter reaches France and heads to the convent where Madame Bonacieux is being held, and she befriends her as Madame Bonacieux does not suspect Milady de Winter’s involvement in her capture. Madame Bonacieux shows Milady de Winter a note from Aramis’ mistress saying that d’Artagnan is coming to rescue her. Rochefort (Cardinal Richelieu’s servant) comes to meet Milady de Winter at the convent and she tells him of her success with the Duke of Buckingham’s death so he can pass this information onto Cardinal Richelieu. Rochefort instructs her to wait in a particular village for his return with new orders for her after he has spoken to Cardinal Richelieu. The four Musketeers arrive at the convent to rescue Madame Bonacieux. Milady de Winter then poisons Madame Bonacieux and escapes from the convent, going to the meeting place in the village to await Rochefort, and Madame Bonacieux dies in d’Artagnan’s arms. Lord de Winter then arrives at the convent as he had followed Milady de Winter from England, though he briefly lost her trail but then saw the Musketeers so followed them instead. They find a note which Rochefort had dropped mentioning the village where Milady de Winter is to wait for him so they all go to that village, Athos seeking out another man on the way and bringing him with them to face Milady de Winter. They find her and list all her crimes, including killing Madame Bonacieux, trying to poison d’Artagnan, trying to get d’Artagnan to kill Comte de Wardes, killing her husband (Lord de Winter’s brother), causing the Duke of Buckingham’s death, causing Felton’s death as the killer of the Duke of Buckingham, and marrying Athos and taking his wealth. The sixth man then states that he is the brother of the priest who Milady de Winter seduced years ago and convinced to steal the church’s vases which resulted in her and him being imprisoned but she had managed to arrange their escape by seducing a jailor and they then lived as brother and sister on Athos’ estate and Athos then married Milady. The sixth man adds that his brother became disgusted at all he had done at Milady de Winter’s bidding and hanged himself. He then adds that he is an executioner, and the six men pass the sentence of death on Milady de Winter, and the executioner beheads her.
Omg, wow, I am so shocked at that ending! She is dead, and killed by them! I guess the book has already demonstrated that people took matters into their own hands then, and I guess she has escaped prison several times so I can see that they would be reluctant to trust that a prison could contain her, but still, to actually behead her!! But she must be one of the most memorable baddies ever, it really was quite amazing to see all her crimes listed and consider all she had done, as I said before I feel I have to kind of admire her for her guts and determination and her refusal to be dominated by men and her ability to succeed in a man’s world, and indeed to dominate in a book which seems on the surface to be mainly about men! She clearly isn’t the demure female commonly portrayed at that time, and I was completely gripped every time she appeared on the page, what an unscrupulous cunning schemer she was but what brains and bravery! I was sad at Madame Bonacieux’s death though, I also didn’t expect that, and sad for d’Artagnan in his grief, even though I felt that he hadn’t really been faithful to her. Apart from my fascination with Milady de Winter, I was also fascinated in a different way by Athos as I found him a much more involved and interesting and thoughtful and deeper character than the other males in the book, and also willing to admit his vulnerabilities so less of the bravado which annoyed me in the others, and I look forward to learning more about him in future books. I also liked the mix of real historical characters alongside the fictional ones too, and it prompted me to read up about the Duke of Buckingham and Felton and Cardinal Richelieu, and about French history at the time and the Battle of La Rochelle, and I again admire the ability of Dumas to take on such a huge and involving tale encompassing so many events and countries and characters.
What an amazing tale! I felt like Dumas took me on a rollercoaster of emotions and dramas, and I feel quite exhausted now that I’ve finished, but I’m full of admiration for his story-telling ability. It is an amazing book, I really am blown away with the intricacies of the plot and the amount of characters, but I also feel that I really need to read it again in order to fully understand everything as it was quite involved and convoluted at times and I found parts of it a little confusing, though this goes to demonstrate again the huge amount which is in the book and also my lack of knowledge of French history! I will have to continue with this series, and I see the next book is Twenty Years After, and then the next one is The Vicomte de Bragelonne. Some of Dumas’ other books sound interesting too, particularly The Wolf Leader which Wikipedia says was one of the first werewolf novels written, and The Black Tulip which is set in the Netherlands and sounds like it has a strong theme of revenge like his The Count of Monte Cristo book. And as I’m fascinated by Milady de Winter, I have been searching for other books featuring her as I’d love to know about her earlier life and adventures (well, I guess I should rightly call them crimes, not adventures!). Ideally I’d have loved there to be a book about her written by Dumas but there isn’t one so I will have to bear in mind that any other books about her are just that particular author’s interpretation of the character but still could be interesting to read, and I see there is a book called Athos and Milady in the Beginning by Jennifer M Fulford which tempts me with it mentioning Athos too, and an audio book called Milady de Winter by Lucy Catherine, and a book called Milady by Laura L Sullivan. And historical tales of French life also remind me of The Scarlet Pimpernel series by Baroness Orczy, which I’m keen to read.
