The Forty-Five

Paris explodes into revolution-and the Forty-Five find themselves trapped at the center of the storm.

The Duke de Guise has made his move, entering Paris in triumph while King Henri III flees his own capital. The Day of the Barricades transforms the city into an armed camp, with the Catholic League controlling the streets and the Forty-Five Gascons isolated in the Louvre, surrounded by enemies who want them dead.

As Henri plots his revenge from exile, Chicot undertakes desperate missions between the warring factions, his jester's wit now the only weapon preventing total catastrophe. The mysterious Diane de Salcède's true purpose is revealed, threatening to divide the Forty-Five at the moment they must stand most united. And in the shadows, assassination plots multiply as Henri considers the unthinkable: murdering a prince of the blood to save his throne.

The Forty-Five warriors face impossible choices. Should they remain loyal to a king who seems doomed? Can honor survive when political necessity demands compromise? And when the final confrontation comes, who will stand and who will fall?

Dumas escalates his epic to breathless intensity as loyalty, honor, and survival collide in the heart of revolutionary Paris.

Volume Two of The Forty-Five