Top ten castles in fiction

Jessamy Taylor is the author of King’s Company, an historical adventure story.

At the Guardian she tagged her ten top castles in fiction, including:

The Château D’If, from The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

“The sea is the graveyard of the Château d’If.” It’s all so deliciously unfair. Poor seaman Edmond Dantès gets captured and locked up in the island fortress of the Château d’If, as part of a vicious plot, just before he marries his sweetheart Mercédès. The Château is merciless and omnipotent, its power reaching out over the dark plain of the sea, and its damp walls seeming to weep with the tears of its prisoners. Edmond escapes, of course, but only after 14 years. He turns up in Paris some time later, mysterious, handsome and complicated, with some great horses and a fabulous title, and above all, absolutely loaded with cash. Extremely satisfying.

Read about another entry on the list.

The Count of Monte Cristo is among Jonathan Kellerman's six favorite books and John Mullan's ten best valets in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue