Les Misérables Summary | Chapterly
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo: A Complete Summary "Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise." Overview Les Misérables (1862) is one of the most ambitious novels ever written. Victor Hugo's epic follows the ex-convict Jean Valjean across nearly two decades of French history, from 1815 to 1832, weaving together a cast of dozens of characters to explore poverty, justice, revolution, and the possibility of moral transformation. At its heart is a simple but profound question: can a person change? Valjean, imprisoned for nineteen years for stealing bread, emerges from prison hardened and bitter. An act of mercy by a bishop transforms him. He becomes a force for good, but he is relentlessly pursued by Inspector Javert, who believes that criminals cannot reform and that the law is absolute. Hugo's canvas is vast. The novel encompasses the Battle of Waterloo, the sewers of Paris, the barricades of the 1832 June Rebellion, and detailed examinations of poverty, monastic life, and Parisian underworld. It is sentimental, digressive, and overwhelming, and it is one of the greatest novels ever written. Plot Summary Valjean's Transformation Jean Valjean serves nineteen years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his...