La Reine Margot

Alexandre Dumas · 1802–1870 · France

Originally La Reine Margot (French)

Why it matters

A royal wedding meant to end religious war instead opens onto the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, with the bride caught between her Catholic family and the Protestant husband she barely knows: Dumas's bloodiest, most politically charged historical novel.

At a glance

Large historical cast and rapid court intrigue move at breakneck pace.