Description: Story of Jean Valjean, the ex-convict who rises against all odds from galley slave to mayor, and the fanatical police inspector Javert who dedicates his life to recapturing him.
Review Quotes: "Hugo's genius was for the creation of simple and recognizable myth. The huge success of Les Misérables as a didactic work on behalf of the poor and oppressed is due to his poetic and myth-enlarged view of human nature."--V. S. Pritchett