63 h 50 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
What if the law never lets you become more than your worst mistake?
Jean Valjean leaves prison after nineteen years for stealing bread and trying to escape. On a cold road, no inn will take him in. Then Bishop Myriel offers a mercy he has never known. In Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, that encounter opens a struggle to live honestly under a new name.
Around Valjean stand Fantine, a mother desperate to provide for her child; Cosette, her mistreated daughter; and Marius, a young idealist who falls in love. Inspector Javert pursues Valjean with unbending duty. Across years of political change and unrest in Paris, Hugo asks what justice owes the guilty—and what society owes the poor.
What you’ll discover
- Mercy against the law Follow Valjean and Javert into a conflict where conscience and duty pull in opposite directions.
- A mother's desperate choices Meet Fantine, whose struggle to support Cosette exposes a world that crushes and blames the poor.
- The chance to change See how Bishop Myriel's kindness challenges a man hardened by prison to begin again.
- Paris beyond its doors Enter streets marked by poverty and unrest, where young idealists gather at the barricades.
- Love amid hardship Discover Cosette, Marius, and Éponine through lives shaped by mistreatment, love, poverty, and deep loyalty.
Who will love it
For readers who love stories of redemption, tender love, wild chases and revolution, with questions of justice, poverty and mercy at their heart. Students and musical fans will also find much to explore.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A freed convict finds every door shut
- A night of mercy changes a man
- A new name builds a good life
- Fantine falls as the world looks away
- A man must choose between safety and conscience
- Cosette is rescued and the chase begins
- Marius, the barricade friends and a girl in the garden
- Law against mercy is the central quarrel
- Poverty, the people and Hugo's great digressions
- How the book is built and why it lasts
Who’s who
- Jean ValjeanA former convict who is hardened by prison, then changed by an act of mercy, and who tries to live honestly under a new name.
- JavertA police inspector who believes the law is absolute, and who pursues Valjean with a stern, honest and unbending sense of duty.
- FantineA poor young woman in Paris who is left alone with a baby and who will do anything to provide for her child.
- CosetteFantine's daughter, who grows up first as a mistreated servant and later as the cherished ward of Valjean.
- Marius PontmercyA young idealist raised by a royalist grandfather, who breaks with his family, lives in poverty, and falls in love.
- ThénardierA scheming innkeeper who exploits Cosette and later returns under other names, always looking for a profit.
- ÉponineThe Thénardiers' eldest daughter, tough and thin, who grows up in the streets and carries a deep loyalty of her own.
- Bishop MyrielA humble bishop of Digne who gives away his wealth and shows Valjean a kind of mercy he has never known.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 63 h 50 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.
eBooks and audiobooks open right away. Download EPUB or PDF, or send the book to your Kindle. Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear I miserabili in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
I miserabili
by Victor Hugo · 1862
Jean Valjean tries to build an honest life, but Inspector Javert pursues him with a law that has no room for mercy.
ChallengingOver 20 hours to read25 languages
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
Les Misérables is a novel by Victor Hugo, published in 1862. Hugo was already France's best-known poet and playwright when he wrote it.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A freed convict finds every door shut
The novel opens in October 1815 in the small town of Digne, in the south of France. A tired man on foot arrives, carrying a heavy knapsack and a stick. He is Jean Valjean, and he has just been released from the prison galleys at Toulon. He once broke a baker's window and took a loaf to feed his sister's seven children, and his sentence of five years grew to nineteen because of repeated escape attempts.
Valjean carries a yellow passport that marks him as a dangerous ex-convict. Wherever he shows it, people turn him away. The innkeepers refuse him a bed. The tavern keeper will not serve him. Even a dog kennel is denied to him, because the dog attacks. Hugo wants us to feel how a society keeps punishing a man after his sentence has ended.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about I miserabili
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Les Misérables about?
It follows Jean Valjean, a French convict freed in 1815 who tries to rebuild his life while the police inspector Javert pursues him. It also tells of Fantine, Cosette and Marius, and of poverty, justice and mercy in France.
What does Les Misérables mean?
It is French for the wretched ones, or the miserable. Hugo means the poor, the outcast and the people crushed by an unjust society, not just those who feel sad. The title names a whole class of people.
Is Les Misérables a true story?
No, the main characters are invented. But Hugo set the novel against real events such as Waterloo in 1815 and the Paris unrest of 1832. He published it in 1862 after years in exile.
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.
More by Victor Hugo
All 10 booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
