Les Misérables (trans. variously as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Victims) (1862) is a novel by French novelist Victor Hugo.

Among the most well known novels of the 19th century, it follows the lives and interactions of several French characters over a twenty year period in the early 19th Century that includes the Napoleonic wars and subsequent decades.

Principally focusing on the struggles of the protagonist—ex-convict Jean Valjean—to redeem himself through good works, the novel examines the impact of Valjean's actions as social commentary. It examines the nature of good, evil, and the law, in a sweeping story that expounds upon the history of France, architecture of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, law, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. Les Misérables is known to many through its numerous stage and screen adaptations, of which the most famous is the stage musical of the same name, commonly known as "Les Mis".

Download Les Miserables (Microsoft Reader Format):

 "Les Miserables, Volume I, Fantine" (1862)
        e-book | Palm | web version

 "Les Miserables, Volume II, Cosette" (1862)
        e-book | Palm | web version

 "Les Miserables, Volume III, Marius" (1862)
        e-book | Palm | web version

 "Les Miserables, Volume IV, Saint Denis" (1862)
        e-book | Palm | web version

 "Les Miserables, Volume V, Jean Valjean" (1862)
        e-book | Palm | web version

From University of Virginia (E-Text)

Victor Hugo, Writer:

• Born: 26 February 1802
• Birthplace: Besancon, France
• Died: 22 May 1885
• Best Known As: The author of Les Misérables

Victor-Marie Hugo was one of France's most distinguished writers: a poet, dramatist and novelist of the romantic school of the 19th century. His most famous works in English are his two epic novels, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862), both of which have been adapted many times for stage and screen. He was exiled in 1851 by Napoleon III, but returned to France in 1870 in triumph, and his final years marked by public veneration.

Hugo's character Quasimodo -- the Hunchback of Notre Dame -- has been played on-screen by Anthony Quinn (1956), Anthony Hopkins (1982), Charles Laughton (1939), and most famously by Lon Chaney (1923).

FOUR GOOD LINKS

• Victor Hugo
  Brief bit on Hugo, and Les Misérables in e-text
• Books and Writers
  Tidy summation of Hugo's career, plus a list of selected works
• Les Misérables
  Official page of the Broadway show
• Victor Hugo 2002
  From France (and in French) a nifty celebration of his bicentennial

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