From review in Time.com Books: Dumas Returns Seventy-three years after the death of Alexandre Dumas, his Journal of Madame Giovanni was translated for the first time into English, published for the first time in the U.S. Publishers were charmed by its vague topicality and timeliness (most of the action takes place in the South Pacific and San Francisco). from fantastic fiction.com This is a unique record of the travels of a Parisian lady to New Zealand, Tahiti, New Caledonia, the Hawaiian Islands, California and Mexico. Like many of the works of Alexander Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, is somewhat of an enigma. The account is so amazingly accurate even to the minutest details of its historic setting and local colour as to leave no doubt that the work was based on the actual experiences of a traveller who has visited these regions
Author
This note regards Alexandre Dumas, père, the father of Alexandre Dumas, fils (son). For the son, see Alexandre Dumas fils. Alexandre Dumas, père (French for "father", akin to Senior in English), born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was a French writer, best known for his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. Many of his novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, The Man in the Iron Mask, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne were serialized. Dumas also wrote plays and magazine articles, and was a prolific correspondent. Dumas was of Haitian descent and mixed-race. His father, General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) to Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, a French nobleman, and Marie-Cessette Dumas, a black slave. At age 14 Thomas-Alexandre was taken by his father to France, where he was educated in a military academy and entered the military for what became an illustrious career. Dumas' father's aristocratic rank helped young Alexandre Dumas acquire work with Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, then as a writer, finding early success. He became one of the leading authors of the French Romantic Movement, in Paris. Excerpted from Wikipedia.
