Les Miserables (Signet Classics)

The only completely unabridged paperback edition of Victor Hugo€s masterpiece€"a sweeping tale of love, loss, valor, and passion.

Introducing one of the most famous characters in literature, Jean Valjean€"the noble peasant imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread€"Les Mis©rables ranks among the greatest novels of all time. In it, Victor Hugo takes readers deep into the Parisian underworld, immerses them in a battle between good and evil, and carries them to the barricades during the uprising of 1832 with a breathtaking realism that is unsurpassed in modern prose.

Within his dramatic story are themes that capture the intellect and the emotions: crime and punishment, the relentless persecution of Valjean by Inspector Javert, the desperation of the prostitute Fantine, the amorality of the rogue Th©nardier, and the universal desire to escape the prisons of our own minds. Les Mis©rables gave Victor Hugo a canvas upon which he portrayed his criticism of the French political and judicial systems, but the portrait that resulted is larger than life, epic in scope€"an extravagant spectacle that dazzles the senses even as it touches the heart.
 
Translated by Lee Fahnestock and Norman Macafee, based on the classic nineteenth-century Charles E. Wilbour translation
 
Inlcudes an Introduction by Lee Fahnestock
and an Afterword by Chris Bohjalian