Les Miserables

In this story of the trials of the peasant Jean Valjean – a man unjustly imprisioned, baffled by destiny, and hounded by his nemesis, the magnificently realized, ambiguously malevolent police detective Javert – Hugo achieves the sort of rare imaginative resonance that allows a work of art to transcend its genre. Trying to forget the past and live an honest life, escapted convict Jean Valjean risks his freedom to take care of a motherless young girl during a period of unrest in Paris.