"That book would make a wonderful musical"

-- Alfred Hitchcock

"...there is a point when the unfortunate and the infamous are associated and confused in a word, a mortal word, les misérables..."
--Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

One of the most famous characters of all time, Jean Valjean, a noble past imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread, was first introduced in one of the greatest novels of all time: Les Misérables. In it Victor Hugo takes readers deep into the Parisian underworld, immerses them in a battle between good and evil, and carries them onto 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 prositute Fantine, the amorality of the rogue Thenardier and the universal desire to escape the prisons of our own minds.