Adventure · Historical
The Three Musketeers
A hot-blooded young Gascon joins three legendary swordsmen against the schemes of Cardinal Richelieu.
Five levels, about 80 languages
- A2ElementaryShort sentences and everyday words.
- B1IntermediateYou follow clear stories about familiar things.
- B2Upper intermediateLonger sentences, richer vocabulary.
- C1AdvancedClose to the original, lightly condensed.
- C2ProficientThe complete novel.
One purchase is one book, in one language, at one level: $4.99. Another level of a book you own is $1.99. Editions nobody has asked for yet are written on request: chapter 1 in a few minutes, the rest while you read. How the levels work.
About the book
Three duels in one afternoon
In 1625 a hot-headed young man from Gascony, d’Artagnan, rides into Paris on a comical yellow horse, hoping to join the King’s Musketeers. Within hours he has managed to offend three of them, Athos, Porthos and Aramis, and arranged to fight each of them the same afternoon. Before the first duel is properly under way, the Cardinal’s guards arrive, the four fight side by side, and a friendship is born. Soon they are caught up in a plot by Cardinal Richelieu and the mysterious Milady to disgrace the Queen. Alexandre Dumas, working with his collaborator Auguste Maquet, published it in 1844.
Why it works for learners
Dumas wrote for a newspaper audience, and it shows: short chapters, lots of dialogue and a cliffhanger at the end of nearly every one. Dialogue is the easiest kind of text for a learner, and this book is full of it, much of it funny. The four friends are distinct from the start: Athos noble and sad, Porthos vain and generous, Aramis torn between the sword and the church, d’Artagnan quick and impatient. The vocabulary is honor and intrigue: sword, duel, letter, horse, inn, guard, queen, cardinal, secret. Lexo’s narration gives each musketeer his own voice, which helps when four people are talking at once.
Which level to start at
B1 is ideal. A2 works well for the main adventure. From B2, Dumas’s irony and the comedy of the four servants come through. If you’re learning French, few novels are more fun to read in French.
Read next
- The Count of Monte Cristo, Dumas’s great novel of revenge
- The Scarlet Pimpernel, daring rescues across the Channel
- Captain Blood, a swordsman with a doctor’s patience