Facing the firing squad, Joachim Murat told them to aim for his heart. Courageous until the end, his life is one of the great rise and fall stories. And Alexandre Dumas is the perfect author to tell it.

Murat was a trusted general under Napoleon Bonaparte. His marriage to Napoleon’s sister, Caroline, only served to deepen the bond between the two men. But he would eventually betray the emperor by switching allegiances during the Napoleonic Wars. This fateful decision would prove to be Murat’s undoing.

Dumas paints a fascinating portrait of Murat; a brave commander with a taste for extravagance. It makes his fall from grace all the more tragic. Alexandre Dumas (1802 - 1870) was a hugely popular 19th century French writer. Born of mixed French and Haitian heritage, Dumas first rose to prominence in Paris as a playwright, but later gained international fame with his historical fiction. Often co-authored with other writers, these stories wove together swashbuckling adventure, romance, and real events from France’s past. Among the best known are "The Three Musketeers", and its sequels "Twenty Years After", and "Le Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years Later". Set across four decades, this trilogy follows the rise of the dashing D’Artagnan—from hot-headed soldier to trusted captain under Louis XIV. Dumas’ other novels include "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Black Tulip". His works have been adapted into more than 200 movies, including The Man in the Iron Mask starring Leonardo DiCaprio.