Jules Verne began developing the plan and working on the novel in the autumn of 1883. In a letter to the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel, the author wrote that the new novel “will resemble the Count of Monte Cristo, but without exaggerated love passions.” Most of the novel was completed in the summer of 1884, and at the same time the author and his family undertook a trip to the places described in the novel – from Tangier to Malta – on his yacht “Saint-Michel”. Based on its results, clarifications and additions were made to the work.
On July 18, 1884, the first volume of the novel was delivered to the publisher, and at the end of the year he also received the second and third volumes. Etzel asked the author to change the protagonist’s motivation a little, making him more of a fighter for justice than an avenger, which he did. On March 2, 1885, the novel was ready. Jules Verne dedicated it to Dumas, the father, and Dumas, the son, the first dedication in the works of Jules Verne.
In Trieste, two petty criminals, Sarcany and Zirone, accidentally possess a cipher that proves the existence of a conspiracy to make Hungary independent of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Includes Count Mathias Sandorf and his two friends Ethienne Bathory and Ladislav Zathmar. They then decide to hand over the evidence to banker Silas Toronthal, who, after helping them decipher the note, reports the conspiracy to the Austrian authorities who arrest and try the three conspirators. The first is a widower and leaves behind a baby daughter; the second is married and has a son, Pierre; the third has a servant who is entirely dedicated to him. Sandorf and his two friends are trapped in the Pazin fortress, where, upon listening to a conversation, they discover the names of the two informants who made their plan fail.
The convicts tried to escape using a lightning rod, but Ladislau Zathmar was unable to follow them. Sandorf and Bathory find refuge with the Corsican Ferrato, but are denounced by the Spaniard Carpena, who wants the reward and wants to marry the Corsican’s daughter. This time, only Sandorf managed to escape. He will survive, changing his identity, thanks to his talent as a doctor and hypnotist.
The narrative then jumps to fifteen years after the events we have just narrated, passing from Trieste to Ragusa, in whose port the rich Dr. Antekirtt disembarks, a mysterious doctor who became rich in the orient. As soon as he arrives he meets and enlists two French Pointe Pescade acrobats, agile and cunning, and Cap Matifou, endowed with incredible strength.
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by calipso_odyssey