Vaninka: Celebrated Crimes, Book 17

Written by Alexandre Dumas

Narrated by Robert Bethune

To paraphrase the note from the translator, The Celebrated Crimes of Alexandre Dumas père was not written for children. The novelist has spared no language—has minced no words—to describe violent scenes of violent times.

In this, the seventeenth of the series, Dumas, in this case more a novelist rather than a historian, turns his attention to a story from Russia: that of Vaninka. Her father was a Russian count and a general in the Russian Imperial army under Paul I. She falls in love with one of her father's officers, whose tragic but accidental death leads her to a savage crime. Ironically, bringing her to justice requires a great perversion of justice itself.

This story is historical romance, not history. It does show us something of the life of Russia at the time, and takes a side trip through part of the Napoleonic wars, but the focus is firmly on the price a beautiful young girl pays for her arrogant willingness to play fpr keeps with human hearts.

Dumas may have collaborated on this, as he frequently did in his works, with other writers. Nevertheless, it is clearly Dumas who has the final say on this work, as with all the other works in this series.

Enjoy!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Freshwater Seas
• Release date: Jul 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781942894049

Alexandre Dumas

Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), one of the most universally read French authors, is best known for his extravagantly adventurous historical novels. As a young man, Dumas emerged as a successful playwright and had considerable involvement in the Parisian theater scene. It was his swashbuckling historical novels that brought worldwide fame to Dumas. Among his most loved works are The Three Musketeers (1844), and The Count of Monte Cristo (1846). He wrote more than 250 books, both Fiction and Non-Fiction, during his lifetime.