Les Misérables

Considered to be French novelist Victor Hugo's masterpiece, Les Misérables is a sprawling historical and philosophical epic first published in 1862. Covering the years from 1815 through the Paris Uprising in 1832, it is notable for its many subplots and digressions from the main storyline. The novel's stated aim is ""a progress from evil to good, from injustice to justice, from falsehood to truth,"" which can be seen most clearly in the story of the central character Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who struggles to shake the sins of his past and become a good man. Widely adapted, the novel inspired the blockbuster musical and movie known as Les Miz. Abridged from the 1887 Isabel F. Hapgood translation.