Book excerpt: The Memoirs of a Physician Series is placed in the time of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The series presents an idealized portrait of France during the reign of Queen Marie Antoinette, but it also shows the decadence of the nobility of the time, with its ending seeming to suggest the "beginning of the end" of the nobility. Novels are inspired by the actual historical characters, such as Count Cagliostro and Ange Pitou, and the major events in the history of France, storming the Bastille, French Revolution and The Reign of Terror. Alexandre Dumas, père (1802-1870) was a French writer whose works have been translated into nearly 100 languages and he is one of the most widely read French authors. His most famous works are The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Table of Contents: Joseph Balsamo: The Magician The Mesmerist's Victim: Andrea de Taverney The Queen's Necklace Taking the Bastile: Ange Pitou The Countess de Charny: The Execution of King Louis XVI