Best Grunt Works Podcasts (2025)

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The Silence of the Warehouse (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 29 – Part 1) 8:34

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29m ago8:34

8:34

The once-bustling house of Morrel & Son now stands hollow and still. Where laughter once echoed through bright corridors and the air smelled of salt, goods, and prosperity, there is only dust and silence. The courtyards are empty, the offices dark, and of all the clerks who once filled this hive of commerce, only two remain. One is a young man — lo…

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The Signature and the Proof (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 28 – Part 7) 9:43

30m ago9:43

9:43

At last, the name Edmond Dantès stares back from the prison register — and beside it, the line that sealed his fate. The Englishman’s gaze hardens as he compares the ink, the slant of each letter, the flourish of the final stroke. It is unmistakable — the handwriting of Villefort himself, the man whose ambition had destroyed him. The truth lies in …

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5 For: Surviving Christmas (2004) | Money, Make-Believe Families & Holiday Meltdowns 17:07

9h ago17:07

17:07

The Machine, still shaking off the glitter and contractual awkwardness of Surviving Christmas, has decided Truman and Landen need a deeper look at the cinematic lineage surrounding holiday chaos, consumerism fantasies, and dysfunctional families. This week it spits out five thematically tangled films—some cozy, some chaotic, all spiritually connect…

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The Prison Registers (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 28 – Part 6) 10:03

41m ago10:03

10:03

The Englishman’s tone remains mild, but his purpose sharpens. He asks to see the prison records — those of the Abbé Faria, and of the other prisoner whose story has so interested him. M. de Boville obliges, leading him into a study of immaculate order: numbered ledgers, catalogued files, the bureaucracy of forgotten lives. While the inspector burie…

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The Burial at Sea (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 28 – Part 5) 5:58

2h ago5:58

5:58

The Englishman listens with careful detachment as M. de Boville delivers the tale’s grim conclusion. The government, he says, needn’t have feared Edmond Dantès any longer — for the Château d’If has no cemetery. Its dead are given to the sea. Believing he was to be buried in consecrated ground, Dantès had instead been sewn into his shroud, weighted …

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The Prisoner’s Escape (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 28 – Part 4) 5:34

4h ago5:34

5:34

With the ink barely dry on their transaction, the Englishman’s true purpose unfolds. His calm curiosity sharpens as M. de Boville recounts a story he calls “a singular incident.” The Abbé Faria — the so-called madman who dreamed of treasure — died only months ago, in February. But his death, Boville explains, was not the end of the tale. Faria’s ce…

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Mini-Transmission: Surviving Christmas (2004) | The Christmas Comedy Hollywood Tried to Hide 29:28

6h ago29:28

29:28

Fresh off their reluctantly festive detour into 2004, Truman and Landen return to tie up loose ends from Surviving Christmas—a film so aggressively seasonal that the Machine still smells faintly of plastic tinsel. They revisit the leftover questions, stray observations, and mid-2000s oddities that didn’t quite fit into the Main episode. And as alwa…

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Q&A Episode - Brothers, Joint Pain, and Karate | Starting Strength Radio #338 1:26:16

7h ago1:26:16

1:26:16

Rip answers questions live from Starting Strength Network subscribers and fans.By Mark Rippetoe

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The Price of a Secret (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 28 – Part 3) 8:01

1d ago8:01

8:01

The Englishman’s composure never wavers, producing a thick bundle of banknotes — far more than M. de Boville had dared to hope for. Relief floods the inspector’s face as ruin gives way to salvation. Yet the stranger refuses any percentage or commission. His price, it seems, is something altogether different. What began as a transaction of francs no…

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The Debt Redeemed (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 28 – Part 2) 6:35

2d ago6:35

6:35

When the Englishman enters M. de Boville’s office, recognition flickers across his face — though the inspector of prisons, sunk in despair, is too distraught to notice. The visitor repeats his polite inquiries about the finances of Morrel & Son, but this time the answer is worse than rumor: M. de Boville is ruined. Two hundred thousand francs — his…

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The Stranger from Rome (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 28 – Part 1) 5:36

3d ago5:36

5:36

A new chapter — and a new game begins. The morning after the events at the Pont du Gard inn, a man appears in Marseilles: thirtyish, well-dressed, and unmistakably English in bearing. Introducing himself as the chief clerk of Thomson & French of Rome, he claims concern over a large loan made to Morrel & Son — the very firm now whispered to be on th…

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The Diamond Tested (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 27 – Part 11) 12:56

4d ago12:56

12:56

The abbé departs into the fading light, leaving Caderousse overflowing with gratitude and disbelief. “May this money profit you,” the priest says, mounting his horse and riding away — back down the same lonely road that brought him to the Pont du Gard inn. Behind him, his calm words linger like a benediction, or a warning. Inside, Caderousse’s joy …

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The Diamond and the Debt (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 27 – Part 10) 9:17

5d ago9:17

9:17

The tale reaches its quiet climax in the dim Pont du Gard inn. The abbé, grave and watchful, speaks of divine justice — of how God’s memory, though slow, never fails. Then, from his pocket, he draws the diamond: a brilliant stone meant for Edmond Dantès’ true friends. “Take it,” he says, placing it before the trembling Caderousse. “There was one fr…

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The Countess and Her Shadow (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 27 – Part 9) 8:37

6d ago8:37

8:37

Eighteen months of mourning — then a wedding. Mercédès begged time to grieve for Edmond Dantès, but grief gave way to resignation, and resignation to marriage. The abbé’s voice cuts with irony as he whispers, “Frailty, thy name is woman,” and listens as Caderousse recounts her walk to the altar — through the same church where she was once to have w…

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The Return of Fernand (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 27 – Part 8) 8:49

7d ago8:49

8:49

Caderousse’s tale drifts into the realm of dreams — the kind that ache with truth. Fernand, once the poor Catalan fisherman, now owns a grand Parisian mansion at 27 Rue du Helder. And Mercédès — she too has risen, “as the sun disappears to rise again with greater splendor.” The abbé’s voice falters, his irony masking something deeper. Caderousse re…

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Surviving Christmas (2004) | Ben Affleck’s Forgotten Festive Misfire 2:23:04

7d ago2:23:04

2:23:04

Truman and Landen are once again thrust into the time-machine, this time careening into October 22 2004 — the release date of Surviving Christmas. What happens when a lonely millionaire decides he’s so desperate for a family Christmas that he cash-offers a stranger household to play his relatives for a week? Strap in for awkward holiday hijinks, ce…

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The Making of a Count (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 27 – Part 7) 9:52

8d ago9:52

9:52

The abbé listens as Caderousse unspools the incredible rise of Fernand — once a poor fisherman, now a decorated noble. His fortune, it seems, was built not on honor but on opportunity seized in shadow. Drafted under Napoleon and stationed at the frontier, Fernand betrayed his general to the Bourbons and returned a hero instead of a traitor. The win…

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The Fortunes of the Guilty (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 27 – Part 6) 6:56

9d ago6:56

6:56

The abbé listens as Caderousse paints a grim contrast between the ruined and the rewarded. M. Morrel — faithful, honorable, undone by loss — now stands at the edge of despair, burdened not only by ruin but by a family he cannot save. A wife steadfast in suffering. A daughter denied her love. A son serving far away. Even death would be a mercy if no…

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The Weight of Remorse (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 27 – Part 5) 8:32

10d ago8:32

8:32

Caderousse bows his head beneath the burden of guilt, confessing that he let fate destroy Edmond Dantès. “Remorse preys on me night and day,” he admits, believing his misfortune to be divine punishment for cowardice. The abbé listens with grave compassion, telling him that such honesty is a step toward forgiveness — though Caderousse fears Edmond’s…

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The Betrayal at La Réserve (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 27 – Part 4) 7:56

11d ago7:56

7:56

The abbé’s voice hardens as he demands names — the men who destroyed Edmond Dantès and his father. Caderousse, cornered by conscience and the priest’s quiet authority, speaks the truth at last: Fernand and Danglars. One driven by love, the other by ambition. Together they forged a lie. In the warm glow of Dantès’ betrothal eve at La Réserve, Dangla…

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5 For: The Brothers Bloom (2008) 18:50

15d ago18:50

18:50

A tour through five films that share the cons, capers, twists, and tonal oddities that surfaced while discussing The Brothers Bloom. Truman and Landen follow where the Machine leads, comparing the quirks and energies these movies share with the main film’s con-artist DNA. What You'll Hear How all five films connect through cons, capers, farce, or t…

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A Father’s Last Fast (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 27 – Part 3) 9:56

12d ago9:56

9:56

Grief turns to solitude, and solitude to ruin. Caderousse recounts how even the kindest neighbors withdrew from old Dantès — sorrow being a burden most hearts can bear only at a distance. Left alone, the father sold his few possessions piece by piece, until the house itself threatened to turn him out. When the silence above grew too deep, Caderouss…

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The Old Man’s Vigil (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 27 – Part 2) 8:02

13d ago8:02

8:02

Mercédès, desperate to help, turns to Villefort for mercy and is denied. She then seeks out Edmond’s father — a man broken by grief and sleeplessness, who refuses to leave his home. “If he gets out of prison,” he insists, “he will come here first; I must be waiting.” His love has become an anchor, binding him to the place where hope still lingers. …

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The Story (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 27 – Part 1) 9:41

14d ago9:41

9:41

In the dim light of the Pont du Gard inn, the abbé urges Caderousse to speak the truth about Edmond Dantès’ past — and Caderousse hesitates, gripped by fear of the powerful men his words may expose. The priest’s calm assurance, his vow of secrecy and divine distance, opens the floodgates: Caderousse begins his long, painful confession. He starts wi…

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Mini-Transmission: The Brothers Bloom (2008) | Rian Johnson's Montages 31:23

15d ago31:23

31:23

A joy-drunk Cat Stevens montage sends Truman and Landen spiraling into a conversation about silent-movie acting, fruit-stand catastrophes, and which posters for The Brothers Bloom actually make sense. This Mini-Transmission also brings the full Trailer Game breakdown—complete with explosions, vents, visors, and a surprisingly accurate set of guesse…

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Travelling Man | Starting Strength Radio #337 1:21:49

14d ago1:21:49

1:21:49

Carl Raghavan drops by the studio to talk with Rip about training, coaching, and writing while travelling from place to place for the last few years.By Mark Rippetoe

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Caderousse Begins His Tale (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 18) 11:46

15d ago11:46

11:46

La Carconte withdraws to her room, warning her husband not to act rashly. But Caderousse, flushed with greed and fear, bolts the inn’s door and seats himself across from the abbé, ready to unburden himself. The priest remains in shadow, his eyes fixed and unblinking, while the light falls harshly on the innkeeper’s face. With his wife’s trembling v…

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The Diamond and the Temptation (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 17) 9:33

16d ago9:33

9:33

The abbé explains that Edmond Dantès’ diamond is to be divided into five shares—one each for Caderousse, Danglars, Fernand, Mercédès, and the late Edmond’s father, whose portion will now be shared among the four survivors. But even as the priest calmly replaces the jewel in his cassock, the atmosphere in the inn grows charged with unspoken desire. …

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The Temptation of the Diamond (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 16) 7:07

17d ago7:07

7:07

The abbé presses no further about Fernand or Danglars, but instead turns to the task he claims was entrusted to him by Edmond Dantès: the selling of a diamond worth fifty thousand francs. When he opens the small box, the brilliant stone flashes in the dim inn light, dazzling Caderousse, who calls urgently for his wife. La Carconte descends, her fei…

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Faithful Friends and False Hearts (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 15) 10:38

18d ago10:38

10:38

The abbé presses further: could Fernand, once called a “faithful friend,” truly have betrayed Edmond? From the stairs, La Carconte interrupts again, warning her husband to keep silent. But Caderousse, irritated and restless, cannot resist his own bitter knowledge. How could Fernand be faithful to a man whose fiancée he coveted? Edmond’s very honest…

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La Carconte’s Warning (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 14) 6:55

21d ago6:55

6:55

La Carconte cuts in sharply, mocking her husband’s “politeness” and warning him of the danger in revealing too much. Her words drip with suspicion—promises of safety, she says, always dissolve into misery and persecution for the poor and helpless. The abbé counters with calm assurance, but her muttering presence lingers like a shadow on the room. W…

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The Death of Old Dantès (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 13) 7:57

24d ago7:57

7:57

The abbé presses for the truth, and Caderousse gives it with a grim pause: Edmond’s father did not die of illness, but of starvation. The words strike like a thunderbolt—too cruel to believe, and yet undeniable. A man left to waste away in grief and hunger, while others lived steps away. The abbé recoils in outrage, unable to contain his horror at …

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The Brothers Bloom (2008) | Rian Johnson's Wes Anderson Movie 2:25:27

22d ago2:25:27

2:25:27

The Brothers Bloom (2008) sends Truman and Landen into a con-artist story that turns out to be far stranger, warmer, and twistier than they remembered. This week, the Machine drops them into a film that blends sincerity, trickery, and sibling chaos in ways that still surprise them. Rian Johnson’s The Brothers Bloom follows two lifelong con-man brot…

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The Inheritance Divided (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 12) 10:04

23d ago10:04

10:04

The abbé continues Edmond’s final instructions. The diamond, he says, was to be sold and its value divided into five equal shares: for Caderousse, for Danglars, for Fernand, for Mercédès—and for Edmond’s father. But the old man is gone, and the mention of his death shakes Caderousse with conflicting passions. The priest presses further, asking how …

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The Diamond Revealed (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 11) 7:36

26d ago7:36

7:36

The abbé places temptation directly before Caderousse. From his pocket he draws a small black box—and inside, a glittering diamond, worth fifty thousand francs. Caderousse can scarcely breathe, his eyes locked on the stone as if it could already be his. The priest explains: the diamond was left in trust. Dantès had once counted four loyal friends, …

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The Diamond of Dantès (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 10) 4:40

27d ago4:40

4:40

The abbé presses further into the mystery of Edmond Dantès’ imprisonment. He reveals that even on his deathbed, Edmond swore before God that he never knew why he was arrested. In his final wish, he begged the abbé to clear his name, to remove any stain from his memory. Then comes a revelation: a wealthy Englishman, once Edmond’s fellow prisoner, le…

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The Fate of Dantès (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 9) 6:15

28d ago6:15

6:15

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…

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5 For: Nightmare Alley (2021) 16:46

26d ago16:46

16:46

Step right up for five tales of trickery, karma, and carnival deceit. From silent-era psychics to freak-show morality plays and a little Japanese horror for good measure, the Machine pulls five films that echo Nightmare Alley’s twisted sense of fate. WHAT YOU’LL HEAR Why The Prestige feels like the supernatural version of Nightmare Alley The morali…

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The Name of Dantès (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 8) 6:23

29d ago6:23

6:23

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 o…

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Wine, Honesty, and Old Secrets (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 7) 8:12

1M ago8:12

8:12

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…

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A Stranger Questions Caderousse (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 6) 6:29

1M ago6:29

6:29

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 p…

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The Stranger Arrives (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 5) 7:00

1M ago7:00

7:00

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 t…

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Mini-Transmission: Nightmare Alley (2021) | Mentalism Gone Wrong 42:55

29d ago42:55

42:55

After six months of secret preparation, Landen unveils a mind-reading experiment that goes wildly off the rails. What begins as a crystal-ball séance turns into one of the strangest on-air pranks in Movie Memory Machine history. WHAT YOU’LL HEAR Landen’s elaborate attempt to “mentally program” Truman into naming a specific actor How a single Jennif…

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Costs and Consequences with Karl Denninger | Starting Strength Radio #336 1:27:22

29d ago1:27:22

1:27:22

Karl Denninger returns to discuss topics ranging from forces underlying costs of goods in a global market, suppression of medical studies, and more.By Mark Rippetoe

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Caderousse in Decline (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 4) 8:53

1M ago8:53

8:53

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 in…

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The Innkeeper Revealed (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26, Part 3) 7:37

1M ago7:37

7:37

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, …

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The Innkeeper Revealed (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 2) 7:49

1M ago7:49

7:49

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, …

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The Pont du Gard Inn (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26 – Part 1) 6:46

1M ago6:46

6:46

The road leads Edmond to a lonely inn by the Rhône. In The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 26, Dumas paints a vivid picture of the Pont du Gard Inn, a shabby outpost between Beaucaire and Bellegarde. Its tin sign creaks in the wind, its garden is little more than a patch of garlic and dying fig-trees, and its setting lies under the constant scourge …

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The Stranger of Marseilles (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 25, Part 10) 13:24

1M ago13:24

13:24

Edmond returns in secret, but his presence leaves a trail of wonder. In The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 25, Dantès — under the name Lord Wilmore — purchases outright the house where his father once lived, paying far more than its value to reclaim the place of his memories. He then seeks news of Caderousse and visits the Catalan village, where he…

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The Empty Rooms (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 25, Part 9) 9:48

1M ago9:48

9:48

The house of his father holds only absence. In The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 25, Edmond insists on seeing the small upper rooms where his father once lived. Now occupied by a newly married couple, the chambers are stripped of every trace of the past — new wallpaper, new furniture, new life. Only the bare walls remain. Yet the bed sits where it…