My Memoirs, Vol. II, 1822 to 1825

Before he wrote The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas was simply a young man in Villers-Cotterets trying to find his way. This memoir volume captures him between 1822 and 1825, when his greatest adventure was working at Maître Mennesson's law office and his most dangerous enemy was his own shyness. The book opens with Dumas hiding in an antechamber, listening in horror and delight as his friends recount his pathetic pursuit of Doña Lorenza to each other. What follows is a portrait of the artist as a young fool: romantic, awkward, and painfully sincere. Through anecdotes of small-town French life, playful banter among friends, and the sweet-smelling haze of first love remembered, Dumas transforms his youthful humiliation into something tender and achingly funny. This is Dumas before the duels and drama, when his most heroic act was finally speaking to a pretty girl.