This child, born in 1802, was himself the child of a fatherless boy.

The father was the son of an aristocratic Frenchman and a slave woman living in the Caribbean on the island now called Haiti. As a young man, this child's father traveled to France, where his father (the paternal grandfather) did not want it known that he had this illegitimate son. His father helped him to get a job with the French army on the condition that the boy keep his paternity a secret, and never use the grandfather's name. The boy became a soldier for Napolean, and over some years became rather famous, perhaps as much for his strikingly different good looks as much for his bravery and military exploits.

Later however, our child's father was captured, imprisoned, and suffered permanently disabling wounds from his treatment in prison -- paralysis, partial deafness, pain. When he finally was freed, he married a French girl and settled with her in a quiet French village. They had a son. All three of them now carried the last name of a Caribbean slave woman. But sadly, when the child was four years old, his father died.

The child was raised by his mother on stories about his aristocratic secret French grandfather and heroic father. He was alternately inspired, angered, and haunted by them. He spent much time wandering in the woods, fantasizing about being a soldier himself, fighting and getting revenge for his father's death. He took up the sport of fencing. Another of his talents was playing billiards. But he also liked to read and write, and happened to develop a very nice handwriting, which he put to good use in his first job as a clerk. In those days, having good handwriting was in much demand because business and legal documents all had to be written and copied by hand.

One day when the child was 16 or 17, he won a lot of money playing billiards, and decided to leave his small village home and go to Paris to seek his fortune. He found another job as a clerk, which gave him the opportunity to read the many books he was copying. Reading these books inspired him to start reading other books, and to get himself well-educated. He began reading books on all manner of subjects, and taking classes on a part-time basis whenever he could.

Over time, this brought out a talent he himself had for writing. He became an extraordinarily clever writer, witty and articulate. And so, he started writing books, stories, and articles.

In between writing, he fathered a couple of illegitimate third-generation fatherless children, had numerous romances, wrote at least one play that was widely decried as obscene, became a theatrical producer, traveled throughout Europe and Africa, tried marriage -- it didn't agree with him, published a magazine, made friends and enemies in high and low places, made and lost lots of money, lived fast, entertained lavishly, got into various legal disputes, worked for a time for the government, developed a hobby of gourmet cooking, and all in all had... a most extraordinary life.

One day he made friends with a history professor who sought his advice about an idea for writing historical fiction. He entered into a collaboration with the man, combining accurate history with the romantic fantasies of his own life and ancestry, and the more serious themes of government, religion, corruption, revenge, purpose, liberty, honor, justice, and brotherhood. The result was an epic series comprising the greatest adventure stories ever written.

This child, the author of the unparalleled Three Musketeers trilogy, and other famous works of classic literature, was