As the boat nears Monte Cristo, Captain Gaetano explains the grim truth behind the Mediterranean’s “missing” vessels. Ships expected at Bastia, Porto-Ferrajo, or Civita Vecchia sometimes vanish without a trace—not due to rocks or storms, but to long, narrow pirate boats that attack under cover of darkness. Franz presses the captain on why no survivors report these crimes, and Gaetano describes the chilling procedure: plunder, binding, a weight tied to every neck, and a scuttled ship sinking in minutes. The sea swallows everything, leaving no witnesses and no evidence—only a whirlpool marking the vessel’s final descent. This, Gaetano tells him, is why no one complains, and why lost ships stay lost.

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The Countdown of Monte Cristo is a daily podcast reading one page at a time from Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel — every day, for four years. Whether you’re starting from the beginning or joining mid-journey, each episode brings you deeper into the story of The Count of Monte Cristo.

Franz learns why Monte Cristo carries an ominous reputation: though uninhabited, the island serves as a hidden refuge for smugglers and pirates crossing between Corsica, Sardinia, and Africa. A visit there means six days of quarantine upon returning to Leghorn—a delay Franz refuses to accept. But secrecy solves everything, or so the sailors insist, and the boat turns toward the rocky island. Once underway, Franz presses the captain further, surprised to learn that piracy has not vanished with the fall of Algiers. Just as bandits still haunt the outskirts of Rome, the Mediterranean, too, has its dangers—quiet, persistent, and very real.

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The Countdown of Monte Cristo is a daily podcast reading one page at a time from Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel — every day, for four years. Whether you’re starting from the beginning or joining mid-journey, each episode brings you deeper into the story of The Count of Monte Cristo.

Franz’s hunting trip to Pianosa in The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 31, leaves him irritated and empty-handed—until the captain points toward a solitary island rising from the indigo Mediterranean. Monte Cristo, uninhabited and rocky, promises wild goats, grottos for shelter, and the strange allure of a “desert island” in the middle of the sea. With time to spare before Rome, Franz agrees to land there, intrigued by the isolation and the captain’s assurances that no permit is needed. Yet the sailors’ hushed exchange and the captain’s final remark—that the island is classed as an infected port—cast an uneasy shadow over this impulsive detour.

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The Countdown of Monte Cristo is a daily podcast reading one page at a time from Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel — every day, for four years. Whether you’re starting from the beginning or joining mid-journey, each episode brings you deeper into the story of The Count of Monte Cristo.

In this passage from The Count of Monte Cristo, we leave Parisian drawing rooms behind for Italy in 1838. Two young men of the first Parisian society, Albert de Morcerf and Franz d’Épinay, arrange to see the Roman Carnival together, with seasoned traveler Franz guiding Albert through Italy’s delights. While Albert hurries on to Naples, Franz lingers in Florence, wandering the Cascine and the salons of the Florentine nobility before a new impulse takes hold. From the harbor at Leghorn, he boards a small sailboat by night and makes a solitary pilgrimage to Elba, tracing the lingering footsteps of Napoleon before sailing on toward Marciana.

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The Countdown of Monte Cristo is a daily podcast reading one page at a time from Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel — every day, for four years. Whether you’re starting from the beginning or joining mid-journey, each episode brings you deeper into the story of The Count of Monte Cristo.

Before the tower of Saint-Jean, unmistakable and fully alive, sails a ship bearing the name The Pharaon, Morrel & Son, of Marseilles. Morrel and Maximilian embrace on the pier as the city erupts in applause, witnessing the salvation of a man who, moments earlier, believed himself doomed.

Hidden behind a sentry-box, an unknown man with a black beard watches with quiet satisfaction. Speaking softly so only the sea might hear, he blesses Morrel for the goodness he has shown in life and expresses a desire that his own part in this rescue remain forever hidden.

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The Countdown of Monte Cristo is a daily podcast reading one page at a time from Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel — every day, for four years. Whether you’re starting from the beginning or joining mid-journey, each episode brings you deeper into the story of The Count of Monte Cristo.

After reading Sinbad’s letter, Morrel asks Julie whether she truly followed its instruction to go alone. She explains that Emmanuel accompanied her only to the corner, as planned — but strangely, he was not waiting when she returned. Before Morrel can question further, a voice calls urgently from the stairs. Julie recognizes it instantly: Emmanuel. The Pharaon has returned!

Morrel believes he must be mistaken — the Pharaon had been reported lost. But Emmanuel insists: the harbor lookout has signaled her return. Maximilian arrives moments later with the same news.

Morrel, overwhelmed, can scarcely comprehend what he is hearing. The purse, the receipted bill, the diamond — these were miracles enough. But the Pharaon’s return? Impossible. And yet everyone repeats the same cry: The Pharaon is in the harbor.

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The Countdown of Monte Cristo is a daily podcast reading one page at a time from Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel — every day, for four years. Whether you’re starting from the beginning or joining mid-journey, each episode brings you deeper into the story of The Count of Monte Cristo.

The final seconds tick away. Morrel raises the pistol, cocks it, and shudders at the sound. Cold sweat covers him; a crushing pain closes around his heart. The staircase door creaks. The clock prepares to strike eleven. His study door opens. Morrel doesn’t turn — he assumes Cocles has come to announce the agent of Thomson & French.

And then he hears a cry — Julie’s voice. He turns. She stands in the doorway, breathless, radiant, her hand extended. The pistol falls from his grasp.

Julie throws herself into his arms, holding a familiar red silk purse. Inside is the receipted bill for 287,000 francs — paid in full — and a diamond large as a hazelnut, labeled Julie’s Dowry. Morrel stares, stunned. The purse is one he once owned himself, long vanished from his life, now returned in this miraculous moment.

He is saved.

Links

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The Countdown of Monte Cristo is a daily podcast reading one page at a time from Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel — every day, for four years. Whether you’re starting from the beginning or joining mid-journey, each episode brings you deeper into the story of The Count of Monte Cristo.

Cocles enters the study to find a man utterly changed. The discoveries of the past three days have crushed Morrel’s spirit so completely that he seems aged by decades. The single thought — the House of Morrel is about to fail — weighs on him more heavily than any hardship he has endured across his life.

Morrel instructs Cocles to remain in the antechamber and to announce the arrival of the agent from Thomson & French the moment he appears. Cocles silently nods and takes his place outside. Morrel sinks into his chair and fixes his gaze on the clock: only seven minutes remain before eleven. He watches the minute hand advance with unbearable clarity.

In his final solitude, Morrel’s mind is a storm of anguish. He is young enough to have years ahead, loved deeply by his wife and children, yet he believes he must remove himself from their lives to preserve their honor. His reasoning may be flawed, but to him it feels tragically inevitable. His face reflects this forced resignation, his eyes raised toward heaven as tears gather.

The seconds slip past. The pistols lie ready; he reaches for one, whispers his daughter’s name, then sets it down again to write a few final words — a farewell he fears he has not expressed fully enough. The clock continues its relentless march, and Morrel waits, counting the time not in minutes now, but in seconds, as the moment he has chosen draws near.

Links

Explore every chapter and insight: https://countdownofmontecristo.com

Join the reader community on Discord: https://discord.gg/Sg2prdm

Support the project and unlock bonus readings: https://patreon.com/gruntworkpod

Watch daily readings on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@countdownofmontecristo

The Countdown of Monte Cristo is a daily podcast reading one page at a time from Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel — every day, for four years. Whether you’re starting from the beginning or joining mid-journey, each episode brings you deeper into the story of The Count of Monte Cristo.