0The tragic but doomed love of Marguerite and Armand that is recounted so passionately in La Dame aux Cam lias had immediate impact: Dumas's novel became one of the great love stories from its first publication in 1848. The title role of the consumptive heroine and her ultimate sacrifice inspired actresses from Sarah Bernhardt to Greta Garbo, and led Giuseppe Verdi to write La traviata . In the hands of Nicholas Boulton, the story of passion and conflict is as fresh and moving as when it was first written.