Les Miserables

Victor Hugo s masterpiece Les Misérables was first published in French in 1862. It became an overnight sensation and was soon translated into a number of tongues. A victim of society who has spent 19 years in jail for the theft of a loaf of bread, the work is set in the Parisian underworld and is structured like a detective novel, following the fortunes of the convict Jean Valjean. After serving time, he returns to the streets as a hardened criminal but eventually softens and transforms to become a prosperous manufacturer and the mayor of a northern town.