20 h 49 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Beneath the towers of Notre-Dame, a dancer hopes for love while a priest struggles with dangerous desire.
Paris, 1482. A feast day draws a restless crowd to the Palace of Justice, where a contest crowns the city's ugliest face. The winner is Quasimodo, the deaf bell ringer of Notre-Dame. In the square, Esmeralda dances with her clever goat, Djali, charming those who gather to watch.
Around them, Victor Hugo builds a world of beggars, soldiers, spectacle and obsession. Claude Frollo, the stern archdeacon who raised Quasimodo, cannot master his desire for Esmeralda. She hopes love will bring safety and a family. As their lives draw together, appearances carry cruel weight, and kindness matters more than a handsome face.
What you’ll discover
- A bell ringer's gentleness Look beyond Quasimodo's frightening face to find loyalty, gratitude and a longing for kindness.
- Hope in the square Meet Esmeralda, whose dancing charms a crowd and whose kindness reaches strangers.
- Learning darkened by obsession Follow Frollo's struggle as a learned priest becomes a threat to the woman he desires.
- A city worth lingering in Wander through streets, customs and crowds as Hugo pauses to bring old Paris close.
- Stone at the story's heart Discover why the cathedral matters, both to these lives and to Hugo's plea against neglect.
Who will love it
For readers who love big, atmospheric stories with doomed love, vivid villains and a strong sense of place, and for anyone who knows only the film versions.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Paris in 1482 is a restless crowd
- The ugliest face wins a crown
- A dancing girl enchants the square
- A night kidnapping goes wrong
- One drink of water breaks a heart
- Desire turns a priest into a threat
- A knife in the dark leads to trial
- Fate, looks and the law are the themes
- The cathedral is the book's true heart
Who’s who
- QuasimodoThe deaf, hunchbacked bell ringer of Notre-Dame, raised by the archdeacon, who obeys his master and longs only for a kind word.
- EsmeraldaA young street dancer with a trained goat, kind to strangers, who hopes that love will bring her safety and a family.
- Claude FrolloThe archdeacon of Notre-Dame, a learned and stern priest who raised Quasimodo and cannot master a dangerous obsession.
- Phoebus de ChâteaupersA handsome captain of the king's archers, admired by Esmeralda, who cares more for pleasure and his own position than for love.
- Pierre GringoireA poor, idealistic poet whose play is ruined and who is saved from the gallows by a name-only marriage.
- Clopin TrouillefouThe king of the beggars and thieves in the Court of Miracles, who rules the hidden underworld of Paris.
- DjaliEsmeralda's clever white goat, who performs tricks in the square and stays at her side.
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
- 20 h 49 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 15 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Notre-Dame de Paris
by Victor Hugo · 1831
Around Notre-Dame, a bell ringer, a dancer and an archdeacon face choices driven by desire, loyalty and fear.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 9
Paris in 1482 is a restless crowd
The novel opens on the Day of the Kings, the feast of the Epiphany, in the year 1482. The whole city seems to have crowded into the Palace of Justice. A mystery play is about to be staged in the great hall, written by a young poet named Pierre Gringoire. Envoys from Flanders are the guests of honor, and the audience grows bored and noisy while it waits.
Hugo takes his time here, and he does it on purpose. He wants you to feel Paris as a living thing, with students, merchants, beggars, thieves and clerics all pushing together. The crowd is almost a character of its own. It cheers, jeers and changes its mind within a minute, and it will do the same many times before the book is over.
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What is The Hunchback of Notre-Dame about?
It follows Quasimodo, the deaf bell ringer of Notre-Dame, and the people around him in Paris in 1482, including the dancer Esmeralda and the archdeacon Claude Frollo. It deals with obsession, injustice and the gap between looks and character.
Is The Hunchback of Notre-Dame a true story?
No. The main characters are invented, though the setting is real and a few real people, such as King Louis XI, appear. Hugo set it in Paris in 1482 and published it in 1831. He used real places, laws and customs to give the story a firm historical background.
What is the original title of the book?
The French title is Notre-Dame de Paris, which puts the cathedral first. Hugo meant the building to be the central figure. The English title shifted the focus to Quasimodo, who is only one part of the story.
The author
Victor Hugo
1802–1885 · French novelist, poet and playwright
Victor Hugo (1802–1885) was a French novelist, poet, dramatist and politician. He was born in Besançon and died in Paris. He wrote The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831), Les Misérables (1862) and The Contemplations (1856). He lived in exile in Jersey and Guernsey between 1852 and 1870.
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