The Countdown of Monte Cristo

The abbé delivers the cruelest truth: Edmond Dantès is dead.
He tells Caderousse that he died in prison, hopeless and broken, before even reaching thirty.
Caderousse, stricken, wipes at his brow and his eyes with his red handkerchief. His voice breaks as he murmurs that he has sincerely lamented Edmond’s fate, swearing that once-envied good fortune had turned to tragedy.
But the abbé watches in silence, his steady gaze fixed on the innkeeper’s every reaction. His words are as much a probe as they are a revelation.
 
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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.

The abbé’s words strike at the heart of memory.
He tells Caderousse that the good are rewarded and the wicked punished—but then presses with a question: did he once know a sailor named Edmond Dantès?
The reaction is immediate. Caderousse’s face flushes as he insists that Edmond was his close friend, his voice rising with urgency. “What has become of poor Edmond?” he demands. “Is he alive? Is he free? Is he happy?”
The priest does not yet answer. He only watches, calm and piercing, as the weight of the name begins to stir old truths.
 
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New to the journey? Start from the beginning at: http://countdownofmontecristo.com
 
Join the conversation on our Discord: https://discord.gg/Sg2prdm
 
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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.

The abbé’s questions press deeper.
Caderousse admits to once being a tailor, though trade and fortune have both long since vanished. Hoping to please his unusual guest, he produces one of his few remaining bottles of wine, only to find himself under the kind of gaze that strips away excuses.
When asked if he is alone, Caderousse mentions his ailing wife upstairs, but insists that, whatever his poverty, he is at least an honest man. The priest listens, silent and steady, as though weighing the claim against truths only he seems to know.
 
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New to the journey? Start from the beginning at: http://countdownofmontecristo.com
 
Join the conversation on our Discord: https://discord.gg/Sg2prdm
 
Support the project on Patreon and receive full-length, story-only audio after each chapter: https://patreon.com/gruntworkpod
 
Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or follow along on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf3vyewhvQugX5M3oREl57A
 
⸻
 
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.

At the Pont du Gard Inn, the knock at the door stirs up more than dust.
A snarling black dog greets the newcomer, but Caderousse himself rushes to make amends, offering wine and apologies when he realizes the unexpected visitor is a priest. The abbé’s Italian-accented words cut straight to the heart of recognition: he knows Caderousse’s name, his past, even his former address in the Allées de Meilhan.
Why such pointed questions? And what business could a foreign priest possibly have with a ruined innkeeper who thought himself forgotten?
 
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New to the journey? Start from the beginning at: http://countdownofmontecristo.com
 
Join the conversation on our Discord: https://discord.gg/Sg2prdm
 
Support the project on Patreon and receive full-length, story-only audio after each chapter: https://patreon.com/gruntworkpod
 
Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or follow along on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf3vyewhvQugX5M3oREl57A
 
⸻
 
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.

A desolate road. A noonday sun. And an unexpected rider.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 continues as a solitary figure approaches the Pont du Gard Inn. Mounted on a Hungarian horse and dressed in the black robes of a priest, the stranger advances with calm purpose, undeterred by the barren, sun-scorched road that few others would choose to travel.
At the inn’s threshold, he dismounts, ties his horse, and knocks three times with his iron-tipped cane — a signal that will change the quiet monotony of Caderousse’s life into something far more consequential.
 
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New to the journey? Start from the beginning at: http://countdownofmontecristo.com
 
Join the conversation on our Discord: https://discord.gg/Sg2prdm
 
Support the project on Patreon and receive full-length, story-only audio after each chapter: https://patreon.com/gruntworkpod
 
Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or follow along on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf3vyewhvQugX5M3oREl57A
 
⸻
 
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.

Once a man of display and local pageantry, Gaspard Caderousse has been reduced to shabby obscurity.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26, we glimpse how prosperity once dressed him in velvet vests, embroidered stockings, and silver buckles, while his wife, La Carconte, shone in the fashions of Arles. Now, those trappings are long gone. Their inn is barely shelter, and their lives are marked more by envy than joy, with the sounds of distant celebrations a bitter reminder of what has been lost.
Caderousse sits idly at his door, staring at a deserted road and a patch of barren grass, until his wife’s sharp voice calls him upstairs — a summons that sets the next turn of events into motion.
 
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New to the journey? Start from the beginning at: http://countdownofmontecristo.com
 
Join the conversation on our Discord: https://discord.gg/Sg2prdm
 
Support the project on Patreon and receive full-length, story-only audio after each chapter: https://patreon.com/gruntworkpod
 
Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or follow along on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf3vyewhvQugX5M3oREl57A
 
⸻
 
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.

The lonely inn has a familiar master.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26, we learn that the Pont du Gard Inn is run by none other than Gaspard Caderousse. Once Edmond’s neighbor, he is now an innkeeper brought low by the new canal that diverts travelers and ruins his trade. Dumas sketches him vividly: tall, bony, with dark eyes, hooked nose, and teeth sharp as an animal’s, his skin burned darker still by years of standing hopelessly at the door in search of customers who rarely come. The once-idle tailor of Marseilles is now a man hardened by disappointment and circumstance, but his presence here signals the beginning of Edmond’s next encounter.
 
⸻
 
New to the journey? Start from the beginning at: http://countdownofmontecristo.com
 
Want to talk theories, themes, or betrayals? Join the conversation on our Discord: https://discord.gg/Sg2prdm
 
Support the project on Patreon and receive full-length, story-only audio after each chapter: https://patreon.com/gruntworkpod
 
Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or follow along on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf3vyewhvQugX5M3oREl57A
 
⸻
 
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 lonely inn has a familiar master.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26, we learn that the Pont du Gard Inn is run by none other than Gaspard Caderousse. Once Edmond’s neighbor, he is now an innkeeper brought low by the new canal that diverts travelers and ruins his trade. Dumas sketches him vividly: tall, bony, with dark eyes, hooked nose, and teeth sharp as an animal’s, his skin burned darker still by years of standing hopelessly at the door in search of customers who rarely come. The once-idle tailor of Marseilles is now a man hardened by disappointment and circumstance, but his presence here signals the beginning of Edmond’s next encounter.
 
⸻
 
New to the journey? Start from the beginning at: http://countdownofmontecristo.com
 
Want to talk theories, themes, or betrayals? Join the conversation on our Discord: https://discord.gg/Sg2prdm
 
Support the project on Patreon and receive full-length, story-only audio after each chapter: https://patreon.com/gruntworkpod
 
Listen wherever you get your podcasts, or follow along on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf3vyewhvQugX5M3oREl57A
 
⸻
 
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.