Les Miserables

Victor Hugo was born in France in 1802. He published his first book of poetry when he was only twenty and later wrote several successful plays and novels, including The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables. During the 1840s, Hugo became involved in French politics. When Emperor Napoleon 111 overthrew the government in 1851, Hugo fled France. Although he did not return for almost twenty years, his passion for writing never wavered. Victor Hugo, one of the best Romantic writers of his time, died in France in 1885.

“Rich and gorgeous. This is the [translation] to read… and if you are flying, just carry it under your arm as you board, or better still, rebook your holiday and go by train, slowly, page by page.”—Jeanette Winterson, The Times (London)“[A] magnificent story… marvelously captured in this new unabridged translation by Julie Rose.”—The Denver Post“A new translation by Julie Rose of Hugo’s behemoth classic that is as racy and current and utterly arresting as it should be.”—Buffalo News (editor’s choice)“Vibrant and readable, idiomatic and well suited to a long narrative, [Julie Rose’s new translation of Les Miserables] is closer to the captivating tone Hugo would have struck for his own contemporaries.”—Diane Johnson“A lively, dramatic, and wonderfully readable translation of one of the greatest 19th-century novels.”—Alison Lurie“Some of us may have read Les Miserables back in the day, but… between Gopnik and Rose, you’ll get two introductions that will offer you all the pleasures of your college instruction with none of the pain.”—The Agony Column