Les Misérables

Victor Hugo’s epic masterpiece of crime, punishment, justice, and redemption, stunningly translated by Julie Rose and featuring an introduction by James K. Robinson

“Rich and gorgeous. This is the [translation] to read.”—Jeanette Winterson, The Times (London)

“[A] magnificent story . . . marvelously captured.”—The Denver Post

Few novels ever swept across the world with such overpowering impact as Les Misérables. Within twenty-four hours, the first Paris edition was sold out. In other great cities of the world, it was devoured with equal relish. It has inspired a Tony Award–winning musical, an Academy Award–nominated film, and countless other acclaimed adaptations across various media.

Sensational, dramatic, packed with rich excitement and filled with the sweep and violence of human passions, Les Misérables is not only superb adventure but a powerful social document. The story of how the convict Jean-Valjean struggled to escape his past and reaffirm his humanity, in a world brutalized by poverty and ignorance, became the gospel of the poor and the oppressed.