Les Miserables

Les Mis¨¦rables is a novel peopled by colourful characters from the nineteenth-century Parisian underworld; the street children, the prostitutes and the criminals. In telling the story of escaped convict Jean Valjean, and his efforts to reform his ways and care for the little orphan girl he rescues from a life of cruelty, Victor Hugo drew attention to the plight of the poor and oppressed. Sensational, dramatic, packed with rich excitement and filled with the sweep and violence of human passions, Les Mis¨¦rables is one of the greatest stories ever told. 'There are plenty of translations of this extensive, exuberant novel that cut out anything superfluous. But God is in the detail¡­This is the one to read¡¯ Jeanette Winterson.