Victor Hugo’s tale of injustice, heroism and love follows the fortunes of Jean Valjean, an escaped convict determined to put his criminal past behind him. But his attempts to become a respected member of the community are constantly put under threat: by his own conscience, when, owing to a case of mistaken identity, another man is arrested in his place; and by the relentless investigations of the dogged policeman Javert. It is not simply for himself that Valjean must stay free, however, for he has sworn to protect the baby daughter of Fantine, driven to prostitution by poverty. A compelling and compassionate view of the victims of early nineteenth-century French society, Les Miserables is a novel on an epic scale, moving inexorably from the eve of the battle of Waterloo to the July Revolution of 1830.

浪漫主義大師雨果的著作，雨果藉由本書表達對窮人和被壓迫者日益加深的關心以及他對社會正義的伸張。在文學中展現的墮落與救贖, 更是讓人動容！ 當一個走投無路的窮人為了溫飽是否必須昧著良心選擇背叛？當遭受他人背叛, 有誰可以做到寬恕並協助這個背叛的人呢？