Les Misrables

(Paperback)

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Trying to forget his past and live an honest life, escaped convict Jean Valjean risks his freedom to take care of a motherless young girl during a period of political unrest in Paris. Translated by Julie Rose Introduction by Adam Gopnik In this major new rendition by the acclaimed translator Julie Rose, Victor Hugo's Les Miserables is revealed in its full, unabridged glory. A favorite of readers for nearly 150 years, this stirring tale of crime, punishment, justice, and redemption pulses with life. Featuring such unforgettable characters as the quintessential prisoner of conscience Jean Valjean, the relentless police detective Javert, and the tragic prostitute Fantine and her innocent daughter, Cosette, Hugo's epic novel sweeps readers from the French provinces to the back alleys of Paris, and from the battlefield of Waterloo to the bloody ramparts of Paris during the uprising of 1832. With an Introduction by Adam Gopnik, this Modern Library edition is an outstanding translation of a masterpiece that continues to astonish and entertain readers around the world.

Reviews

A new translation by Julie Rose of Hugos behemoth classic that is as racy and current and utterly arresting as it should be.The Buffalo News (editors choice)

Lively, dramatic, and wonderfully readable.Alison Lurie, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of Foreign Affairs

Splendid . . . The magnificent story [is] marvelously captured in this new unabridged translation.Denver Post

Rich and gorgeous. This is the [translation] to read. . . . If you are flying, just carry it under your arm as you board, or better still, rebook your holiday and go by train, slowly, page by page.Jeanette Winterson, The Times, London

Author Bio

Julie Rose's acclaimed translations include Alexandre Dumas's The Knight of Maison-Rouge and Racine's Ph dre, as well as works by Paul Virilio, Jacques Ranci re, Chantal Thomas, and many others. She is a recipient of the PEN medallion for translation and the New South Wales Premier's Translation Prize. Adam Gopnik is the author of Paris to the Moon and Through the Children's Gate, and editor of the Library of America anthology Americans in Paris. He writes on various subjects for The New Yorker and has recently written introductions to works by Maupassant, Balzac, Proust, and Alain-Fournier.