Sometimes a commission comes along for which I'll drop everything: and quite literally, I did for this one, a re-reading of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, for The Times. I read it in four days flat - an entirely blissful experience which reminded me a bit of being at university and having the leisure to do nothing but read. Here's the piece. There's a small error in it: I've written that Edmond was illiterate; he wasn't, of course; I meant "uncultured" as a contrast to his cultured second self.
