Les Miserables - Penguin Classics Author:Victor Hugo, Norman Denny (Translator) Many of the characters are well known; Valjean, the criminal trying to escape his reputation; Javert, the police agent trailing him; the unfortunate Fantine and her daughter, Cosette; the rascally Thénardier; and above all the splendid street urchin, Gavroche. Among the unforgettable descriptions are those of the Paris sewers, the battle ... more »of Waterloo and the fighting at the barricades during the July Revolution. There are few more complete, or more vivid, pictures of France at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It is at once a thrilling narrative and a social document embracing a wider field than any other novel of its time.« less