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Cover of Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Les Misérables

Victor Hugo

  • 520 pages · about 9 hours
  • First published 1862
  • 526 editions
  • Free to read
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1 About this book

Les Misérables begins in 1815, when Jean Valjean is released after nineteen years as a convict. An act of mercy by a bishop changes his life, and under a new name he becomes an honest and prosperous man, but the police inspector Javert, who believes that a criminal can never change, does not forget him. Valjean's promise to a destitute factory worker, Fantine, to care for her daughter, Cosette, shapes the rest of his life, and the story reaches its height on the Paris barricades during the uprising of June 1832. Published in 1862, the novel is also a vast portrait of France, its poor and its history, with long digressions on subjects of every kind.

  • Historical fiction
  • Classics
  • Political
  • Redemption
  • Politics and government
  • Fantasy, epic
  • Poverty
  • Ex-convicts

2 What to expect

A vast French novel that follows an ex-convict's struggle to live a good life while a relentless policeman pursues him, from 1815 to the Paris uprising of 1832. Justice against mercy, poverty and redemption are its themes, told with strong emotion and unashamed melodrama. The story is gripping, but the author often stops it for long essays on history, religion and Paris, and many editions are abridged.

Good for readers who want: a sweeping historical novel, redemption and justice, and an epic read to get lost in.

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4 About Victor Hugo

1802–1885

Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (French: ; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862). In France, Hugo is known for his poetry collections, such as Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles (The Legend of the Ages).

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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