Les Misérables
Les Misérables
A former convict seeks redemption after nineteen years in prison, but is relentlessly hunted by a rigid police inspector who believes a criminal can never change. Set against the backdrop of a simmering Parisian uprising, their cat-and-mouse game entwines with the lives of the downtrodden. It is an epic saga of justice, mercy, and the struggle for a better world.
A former convict seeks redemption after nineteen years in prison, but is relentlessly hunted by a rigid police inspector who believes a criminal can never change. Set against the backdrop of a simmering Parisian uprising, their cat-and-mouse game entwines with the lives of the downtrodden. It is an epic saga of justice, mercy, and the struggle for a better world.
VOLUME I FANTINE BOOK FIRST—A JUST MAN CHAPTER I—M. MYRIEL
"In 1815, M. Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel was Bishop of D—— He was an old man of about seventy-fi..."
CHAPTER II—M. MYRIEL BECOMES M. WELCOME
"The episcopal palace of D—— adjoins the hospital.The episcopal palace was a huge and beautiful house..."
CHAPTER III—A HARD BISHOPRIC FOR A GOOD BISHOP
"The Bishop did not omit his pastoral visits because he had converted his carriage into alms. The dio..."
CHAPTER IV—WORKS CORRESPONDING TO WORDS
"His conversation was gay and affable. He put himself on a level with the two old women who had passe..."
CHAPTER V—MONSEIGNEUR BIENVENU MADE HIS CASSOCKS LAST TOO LONG
"The private life of M. Myriel was filled with the same thoughts as his public life. The voluntary po..."
CHAPTER VI—WHO GUARDED HIS HOUSE FOR HIM
"The house in which he lived consisted, as we have said, of a ground floor, and one story above; thre..."
CHAPTER VII—CRAVATTE
"It is here that a fact falls naturally into place, which we must not omit, because it is one of the..."
CHAPTER VIII—PHILOSOPHY AFTER DRINKING
"The senator above mentioned was a clever man, who had made his own way, heedless of those things whi..."
CHAPTER IX—THE BROTHER AS DEPICTED BY THE SISTER
"In order to furnish an idea of the private establishment of the Bishop of D——, and of the manner in..."
CHAPTER X—THE BISHOP IN THE PRESENCE OF AN UNKNOWN LIGHT
"At an epoch a little later than the date of the letter cited in the preceding pages, he did a thing..."
CHAPTER XI—A RESTRICTION
"We should incur a great risk of deceiving ourselves, were we to conclude from this that Monseigneur..."
CHAPTER XII—THE SOLITUDE OF MONSEIGNEUR WELCOME
"A bishop is almost always surrounded by a full squadron of little abbés, just as a general is by a c..."
CHAPTER XIII—WHAT HE BELIEVED
"We are not obliged to sound the Bishop of D—— on the score of orthodoxy. In the presence of such a s..."
CHAPTER XIV—WHAT HE THOUGHT
"One last word.Since this sort of details might, particularly at the present moment, and to use an ex..."