Les Miserables

This beautiful clothbound edition of Victor Hugo's tale of injustice, heroism and love, in a major new translation by Christine Donougher, is published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the novel's first publication, and the major new film starring Hugh Jackman. Les Misérables follows the fortunes of Jean Valjean, an escaped convict determined to put his criminal past behind him. But his attempts to become a respected member of the community are constantly put under threat: by his own conscience, when, owing to a case of mistaken identity, another man is arrested in his place; and by the relentless investigations of the dogged policeman Javert. It is not simply for himself that Valjean must stay free, however, for he has sworn to protect the baby daughter of Fantine, driven to prostitution by poverty.

Victor Hugo (1802–1885) is one of the best-known French writers, most famous for his volumes of lyrical and satirical verse, journalism, his criticism, and several novels, including Les Misérables and Notre-Dame of Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame). A committed political activist, he was exiled by Napoleon III until 1870, later returning to great fame. Christine Donougher studied English and French at Cambridge and, after a career in publishing, is now a freelance translator and editor. Her translation of The Book of Nights won the Scott Moncrieff Translation Prize. She lives in Cambridge, England.