La Fille du marquis

Création et rédemption #2

by Alexandre Dumas

1785. Jacques Mérey, médecin des pauvres, a recueilli et élevé Eva, une fillette abandonnée. La petite muette est devenue une jeune femme accomplie… et amoureuse de son « créateur ». Au moment de l’épouser, elle apprend qu’elle est en réalité la fille du marquis de Chazelay, un riche veuf qui ravit la belle à son promis… (Le Dr mystérieux)
Pendant ce temps, élu député à la Convention, le Dr Mérey est devenu très proche de Danton. Un jour de 1796, dans un théâtre parisien, il rencontre Eva dans une loge… et repousse les avances. Elle offre de devenir sa servante et de lui remettre tous ses biens afin qu’il fonde un hospice dans le château de son père. Il découvre alors son journal, dans lequel elle raconte sa vie loin de lui. On la découvre dans ce Paris chamboulé par la Révolution, désespérée par la perte de son amour et décidée à en finir en provoquant sa propre condamnation. Libérée de prison, elle fait alors la rencontre du vicomte de Barras, nouvel homme fort du Directoire…

Genres: Historical Fiction, France

500 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1863

About the author

This note regards Alexandre Dumas, père, the father of Alexandre Dumas, fils (son). For the son, see Alexandre Dumas fils.

Alexandre Dumas père, born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a towering figure of 19th-century French literature whose historical novels and adventure tales earned global renown. Best known for The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, and other swashbuckling epics, Dumas crafted stories filled with daring heroes, dramatic twists, and vivid historical backdrops. His works, often serialized and immensely popular with the public, helped shape the modern adventure genre and remain enduring staples of world literature.
Dumas was the son of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, a celebrated general in Revolutionary France and the highest-ranking man of African descent in a European army at the time. His father’s early death left the family in poverty, but Dumas’s upbringing was nonetheless marked by strong personal ambition and a deep admiration for his father’s achievements. He moved to Paris as a young man and began his literary career writing for the theatre, quickly rising to prominence in the Romantic movement with successful plays like Henri III et sa cour and Antony.
In the 1840s, Dumas turned increasingly toward prose fiction, particularly serialized novels, which reached vast audiences through French newspapers. His collaboration with Auguste Maquet, a skilled plotter and historian, proved fruitful. While Maquet drafted outlines and conducted research, Dumas infused the narratives with flair, dialogue, and color. The result was a string of literary triumphs, including The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, both published in 1844. These novels exemplified Dumas’s flair for suspenseful pacing, memorable characters, and grand themes of justice, loyalty, and revenge.
The D’Artagnan Romances—The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte of Bragelonne—cemented his fame. They follow the adventures of the titular Gascon hero and his comrades Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, blending historical fact and fiction into richly imagined narratives. The Count of Monte Cristo offered a darker, more introspective tale of betrayal and retribution, with intricate plotting and a deeply philosophical core.
Dumas was also active in journalism and theater. He founded the Théâtre Historique in Paris, which staged dramatizations of his own novels. A prolific and energetic writer, he is estimated to have written or co-written over 100,000 pages of fiction, plays, memoirs, travel books, and essays. He also had a strong interest in food and published a massive culinary encyclopedia, Le Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine, filled with recipes, anecdotes, and reflections on gastronomy.
Despite his enormous success, Dumas was frequently plagued by financial troubles. He led a lavish lifestyle, building the ornate Château de Monte-Cristo near Paris, employing large staffs, and supporting many friends and relatives. His generosity and appetite for life often outpaced his income, leading to mounting debts. Still, his creative drive rarely waned.
Dumas’s mixed-race background was a source of both pride and tension in his life. He was outspoken about his heritage and used his platform to address race and injustice. In his novel Georges, he explored issues of colonialism and identity through a Creole protagonist. Though he encountered racism, he refused to be silenced, famously replying to a racial insult by pointing to his ancestry and achievements with dignity and wit.
Later in life, Dumas continued writing and traveling, spending time in Belgium, Italy, and Russia. He supported nationalist causes, particularly Italian unification, and even founded a newspaper to advocate for Giuseppe Garibaldi. Though his popularity waned somewhat in his final years, his literary legacy grew steadily. He wrote in a style that was accessible, entertaining, and emotionally reso

Reviews

[Andie · Rating 3 out of 5]

She could do better.

[Abel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este o carte f. f. frumoasă! Este un roman istoric!

[Luís Cruz-filipe · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think it's the only Dumas book I've read and not liked. There are plot inconsistencies, the long narration by Éva is often written as if at the time of reading, whereas it is supposed to be her diary; and the fact that she undergoes the "punishment" for her great sin just made me want to puke during the last 100 pages.