‘La dame aux Camelias’ was a real woman, Alphonsine Duplessis. But how much of her real character and story survived the journey from real life to novel, to stage play to Italian opera?

We examine what we know of her short but dramatic life, how Alexandre Dumas created a sensational novel about her affair, adapted the drama again to create the most successful play of the 19th century, and how Verdi and Francesco Piave were inspired to bring his shocking story to the opera stage.