Les Miserables read-a-long 2026 | Première Partie (1)

[AgualusasL0ver]

Welcome to the first thread of the Les Miserables Read-a-long.

I'll be using the Christine Donougher translation for posting in the main, but it doesn't matter which translation you have, they seem to follow the same breakdown. I have not seen the film, the musical, and have very little knowledge about the book, but suspect I will be doing all of these Christmas 2026.

The only rules
The plan is to read ONE chapter a day and contribute/follow the thread as you see fit. There are c. 365 chapters, so we plan to take the year to read slowly and really get under the skin. Sometimes we have clustered chapters in past read-a-longs, and people do sometimes read ahead. All fine - but No spoilers until the relevant day.

Notes from previous read-a-longs

• How you manage one a day is entirely up to you, some people prefer to store them and read all the chapters for the week at once, some read each day.
• Sometimes these books can go off on a tangent all their own (looking at Mr Tolstoy), stick with it :-)
• All formats and translations welcome. Sometimes the translation discussions are some of the most interesting conversations.
• You WILL get behind at some point, but don't worry, just catch up when you can.
• Tangents, things you discovered down a rabbit hole, articles, pod casts, clips of epic scenes when we get to them all very welcome on the thread.

Spoiler free summary , courtesy of Chat GPT below. Schmoop has book summaries so I will post those at the relevant points.

**

Les Misérables is a classic novel by Victor Hugo that explores justice, compassion, and the struggle for dignity in 19th-century France.
At its core, the book follows the lives of several interconnected characters from different social classes as they navigate poverty, law, love, and moral choice. Rather than focusing on a single hero or plotline, the novel paints a wide picture of society—showing how personal decisions are shaped by systems like the legal system, economic inequality, and social expectations.
Key themes include:

• Justice vs. mercy — how laws affect people differently, and whether strict punishment leads to fairness
• Redemption and moral growth — the possibility of change, even after hardship
• Poverty and inequality — the daily realities of people living on the margins
• Love and sacrifice — care for others as a powerful force for good
• Social responsibility — how individual actions impact the wider community

The novel is known for:

• Deep character development
• Emotional intensity
• Philosophical reflections on society and humanity
• Detailed descriptions of history and everyday life

Overall, Les Misérables is less about a single storyline and more about asking big questions:
What does it mean to be a good person? How should society treat its most vulnerable? And can compassion change lives?

Thank you 😊

In my version (Hapgood) the tu/vous is done by thou/thee for tu and you for vous.
The last few paragraphs of the chapter were magnificent (and quite aptly, an instrumental version of one of the musical songs came on the radio as I was reading!)

Caught up to today - gosh, what a good person the bishop is (and his sister and Mme Magloire), and how differently it could have gone - Valjean was so clearly hovering on the edge of violence and it was such a relief when he just took the silver and ran!

I guess that must have been suitable at the time of the translation, but it doesn’t work at all now - thee/thou feels much more formal than you (or just impossibly old-fashioned)!

“Only I wouldn’t would I” 🤣🤣🤣

Using ‘vous’ shows an intention to treat someone with courtesy and maintain respect and some formality. (So as @FuzzyCaoraDhubh points out, in French you can be friends on first name terms and still use ‘vous’ to address each other).

’Tu’ is used for children and animals as well as informally for friends and family. So when JV is addressed as ‘tu’ it really is insulting.

Interesting about the thee/thou translation. I agree tu/vous doesn’t have a straightforward translation.

The word ‘etiquette’ originates from French for a reason! There are ways of doing things 🤣

I'm going to miss the Bishop.
What a thoroughly good sort he is.
I loved the closing lines of the chapter.

For tomorrow…. Here is a little Petit-Gervais… (learning the hurdy-gurdy)

scroll down to the engraving

interlude.hk/the-baroque-hurdy-gurdy-in-xviii-century/

Oh the end of today's chapter, with the Bishop on his knees praying, seemingly still praying for, and bringing about the change in JV. So the bishop is now being channelled through JV after he sees his own wretchedness, and proves this to himself by taking poor petit-Gervais' 40 sous. It felt very dramatic, but I think it really needed to be to show the change in JV. Rather like the long lead up to meeting one of the main characters, but without such detail we really wouldn't 'get' just how deep it all is.

@EmbroideredGardener is it not Valjean praying outside the bishop’s house? Showing that he’s turned a corner after realising what he’d done to poor little Petit-Gervais…

Loved that he gets all florid and emotive in the language and then throws in a science experiment for explanation! But an excellent chapter to highlight how JV changes, which I think might not have seemed so clear or complete without the theft from Petit Gervais.

I’ve definitely enjoyed this chapter more, I like some action in a story.
The dramatic change in JV was shown very well. What a decent man the bishop is!
I agree that I thought it was JV praying at the door at the end.
Wonder if Petit Gervais will appear again? I feel like he needs to be compensated, poor boy.
As always, much appreciation for all the additional comments and insight. Reading a tome like this in small pieces has been great so far!

When I read some (not all!🤣) of this novel years ago, I was a bit irritated by characters coming and going, when I wanted to know more about their story. I wanted to know immediately what happened to Petit-Gervais!

I realise now that Romanticism was exploring individuals like never before in history.

How the poor and working classes FELT was examined for the first time. The emotion and the drama of individual lives was being considered, as the world had begun to be lead by revolutionaries and politicians. Royalty, aristocracy and the church had less authority than ever before. Power was moving through force to different kinds of people. Individuals had begun to matter.

So I am pleased Hugo has given me the opportunity to “hear” the voice of Petit-Gervais in the chaos and changes of the nineteenth century. He is resonant. I will forgive Hugo if we never meet this boy again🤣

We are left with the questions of where people like PG or JV’s sister’s children actually went. What happened to them? Hugo’s mission is complete because he has us actually asking the question…

I noticed in the Donougher translation today there is a comment from a review taken from The Telegraph printed by the title page. It reads:

’You may think that 1,300 pages is a huge investment of time when the story is so familiar, but no adaption can convey the addictive pleasure afforded by Victor Hugo’s narrative voice: by turns chatty, crotchety, buoyant and savagely ironical, it’s made to seem so contemporary and fresh in Donougher’s rendering that the book has all the resonance of the most topical state-of-the-nation novel’

I agree about Hugo’s narrative voice. He is really taking us with him ☺️

Oh maybe. I assumed he wouldn't go back towards Digne or get there quicker than the wagon. It doesnt make sense for the Bishop to be praying outside his front door though I suppose!

I too appreciated all the build up. We wouldn’t understand the Bishop’s actions or Valjean’s repentance if we hadn’t had all the detail. Poor Gervais!

Today’s chapter in French was hard… lots of history, only some familiar bits, lots of irony I think, I used the dictionary a lot, and the footnote at the back is almost as long as the chapter! I did enjoy the description of the new fangled steam boat on the Seine splashing about like a dog swimming and all the Parisiens ignoring it!

Yes there was tons of history wasn’t there! Only minimal footnotes in my copy, so I let it wash over me and got a general flavour of 1817…like a flashback to the 80s for us, I guess! It reminded me of Annie Ernaux’s style of writing in Les Années.

The chapter reminded me a bit of those “review of the year” programmes. Also, from a vantage point far in the future, it seems like most of what was talked about was just noise that kept people engaged despite its essential triviality, whereas a truly world changing development - the steam boat - was ignored by most people. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose!

That was a heavy going chapter. And I don't remember anything about a steam boat 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

Same!!

Phew indeed! The reference to the steamboat was good, however, and I sniggered at the dude who wanted everyone to pronouce 'pommes de terre' as 'palmentières' in memory of another dude who was a great promoter of the potato then, apparently.

Ditto

Here's the bit about the steamboat (alongside the yellow highlighter).

Hugo could have done with a few paragraphs in this chapter :)

Thanks @FuzzyCaoraDhubh