Author: Victor Hugo; Translated by Charles E. Wilbour
Narrator: Frederick Davidson
Unabridged: 57 hr 48 min
Format: Digital Audiobook
Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
Published: 10/27/2009
Genre: Fiction - Classics
Set in the Parisian underworld and plotted like a detective story, Les Misrables follows the adventures of Jean Valjean, originally an honest peasant, who was imprisoned for nineteen years for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sisters starving family. A hardened criminal upon his release, he eventually reforms, becoming a successful industrialist and town mayor. Despite this, Valjean is haunted by an impulsive former crime and is pursued relentlessly by the police inspector, Javert.
Hugo describes early nineteenthcentury France with a sweeping power that gives his novel epic stature. Among the most famous chapters are an account of the battle of Waterloo and a description of Valjeans flight through the Paris sewers.