The principal heroes of the novel are the musketeers. The novel's length finds it frequently broken into smaller parts. The narrative is set between 1660 and 1667 against the background of the transformation of Louis XIV from child monarch to Sun King.

The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later (French: Le Vicomte de Bragelonne ou Dix ans plus tard) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas. It is the third and last of the d’Artagnan Romances, following The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After. It appeared first in serial form between 1847 and 1850. In the English translations the 268 chapters of this large volume are usually subdivided into three, but sometimes four or even five individual books. In three-volume English editions the volumes are entitled “The Vicomte de Bragelonne”, “Louise de la Vallière”, and “The Man in the Iron Mask.” Each volume is roughly the length of the original The Three Musketeers. In four-volume editions volume names remain except that “Louise de la Vallière” and “The Man in the Iron Mask” move from second and third volumes to third and fourth, with “Ten Years Later” becoming the second volume. There are usually no volume-specific names in five-volume editions. French academic Jean-Yves Tadié has argued that the beginning of King Louis XIV’s personal rule is the novel’s real subject.

Alexandre Dumas (24 July 1802–5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas, père, was a French writer. His works have been translated into nearly 100 languages, and he is one of the most widely read French authors. Many of his historical novels of high adventure, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne: Ten Years Later were originally published as serials. His novels have been adapted since the early twentieth century for nearly 200 films. Dumas' last novel, The Knight of Sainte-Hermine, unfinished at his death, was completed by a scholar and published in 2005, becoming a bestseller. It was published in English in 2008 as The Last Cavalier.