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?

What would the Bishop have said? 🤣 I think JV would be capable of more mercy and less dogma regarding Fantine?

Thank you @Benvenuto 😊

(“I think it’s understandable that Fantine can’t manage money as she is still young and has had no-one to help her understand money or to give her cast-off clothes or household items to get herself started.”)

You are right, that would explain how she got into debt. I hadn’t thought about what her relationship with money might be.

I am still struggling to understand how her behaviour aligns with growing up on the street though?

I’m sure Hugo has got this covered, because he is too clever not to have thought it out 🤣
But her naivety still surprises me.

I’d love to know more about her 🤣

I wonder if her beauty made people kind to her? I’ve always noticed beauty seems to make people more generous and indulgent?

But surely then her beauty would have attracted unwanted male attention? How did she remain so naive?

Perhaps she has been so very isolated for all of her life, that she really doesn’t have much experience of people? Perhaps she learnt to be invisible and didn’t mix with people at all?

I know Hugo’s characters in this novel are mechanisms to illustrate larger observations about society but I didn’t think he would portray Fantine like this without more explanation?

I think Hugo enjoyed playing with words here too.

I read today:

“The Jacobins eventually moved to Paris, where they borrowed the name Jacobin after the converted Dominican (or Jacobin) convent in which they met.”

So it’s word play? The monk swapped the Cistercian (Bernadin) convent for the Jacobin (converted) convent.

Ironic given the horrors the Jacobins perpetrated.

I think Hugo the poet really enjoys words and double meanings?

@Neitherherenortheresadly, I think the problem of buying stuff on credit still persists today with stuff like pay day loans, which is why it seems so understandable to me. Possibly Fantine was deprived of things when she was younger that she got used to when living with Tholomyès so she wanted them in her new home or possibly she just assumed she would be able to pay it off with her wages. Debt is really tricky unless you avoid it or have the mathematical skills to manage it.

I agree about the wordplay.

@Benvenuto I think you’re right.. not as bad as I thought.. but Mme V still changing with the wind, as did a lot of people then

I cannot believe the level of nosiness of Mme Victurien! She went to all that time, effort and cost to pry and seemingly has no shame about it since she has shared her information. Don’t others judge her? Or was that perfectly acceptable?

I don't understand why Fantine didn't pretend to be widowed as I thought that was the traditional cover story in these circumstances or to pretend that the child was your sister's and she had sadly died etc...

I suppose that because the woman went to the Thenardiers and they told her that the child was Fantine's, that there was no point in coming up with a cover story. Perhaps she could have said otherwise? Fantine seems very young and innocent and wouldn't be able for the likes of Mme Victurien.

These chapters about Fantine are so sad.
It's awful that her sacrifices are unnecessary; all based on lies to line the pockets of the other two.

Could anyone let me know which chapter we’re on today. I’ve been away and have missed a few days, but not sure how many!

Here you go 🙂

I was curious about ‘registered’ prostitution as Fantine was registered.

Apparently there were periods of French history where prostitution was tolerated.

From Wiki:

“The year 1804 saw the legalisation of tolerance and brothels.

Women and houses are controlled by the Brigade des mœurs.

The women had to register at the prefecture in order to work in a brothel.

Each woman had to have a twice-weekly medical check-up,[37] which was perceived as the most degrading part of their job and abhorred by the prostitutes.

In April 1831, 3,131 girls registered at the Paris Prefecture.“

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_prostitution_in_France

Poor, poor Fantine.

I feel like Mme Victurien has always covered her tracks when she turns 180 degrees in her opinions, by accusing others of what is considered a ‘crime’ at that particular point in time.

If people are looking at others then they aren’t looking at her. Also she is “on the record” for voicing the “correct” opinions?

Thank you @Neitherherenorthere I was wondering what « fille publique » meant!
I guessed it meant she became a prostitute but it sounded somewhat official. It has the faint ring of Public Toilet. Which isn’t too far off I suppose. Poor girl.

@MotherOfCatBoy You are very welcome!

As I mentioned before, time on my hands atm…

I am trying to read in French at the moment as well as the Donougher translation but today I chickened out and hadn’t seen the ‘fille publique’ bit 🤣

Well that’s a depressing chapter. Hadn’t quite expected the inditement of prostitution as a societal failing!

The chapter title translates as ‘Christ has made us free’ but it’s bitterly ironic.

Fantine has been made a slave by simply needing to earn money to live, whilst being a social outcast with no hope of conventional employment.

So sad.. poor Fantine! The depths she has gone too - having her incisors removed is truly barbaric! - and little Cosette is no better off and in fact, is probably treated with even more cruelty by her foster family. They are truly evil..

Today’s chapter was upsetting. The way Hugo describes Fantine at this point is distressing.

Interesting that we had dandies described after a description of the general uselessness of Tholomyes. To set the scene the bar was set very low…

Agree it was hard to read. The casualness of the cruelty.

What an awful set of chapters. I felt a true shiver at the teeth and the mental image won’t leave my head.

I was debating whether Schmoop might be a bit flippant for book 5, but I’ll save it for tomorrow as the summary ends with a tiny bit of tomorrow’s chapter.

...the mental image won't leave my head.

Same here. I read it a few days ago and I still feel horrified.

So musical lyrics spoiler below, but I’m being endlessly impressed with how well the songs summarise the plot. (If people would rather I didn’t throw the musical in as well please say and I won’t post lyrics again) 🙂. I dreamed a dream essentially summarises Fantine’s life to now, the music really helps to give weight to the emotion of the lyrics but they stand alone very well.
Lovely ladies is a more upbeat number that follows, but is as brutal as Hugo in its depiction of prostitution and in the musical Fantine’s loses her teeth and hair during this number (it’s jarring because the music is upbeat(ish) but the content is grim). Although having read the lyrics all the way through, just now, I realise it covers tomorrow’s chapter as I ended up getting sucked into the story today, so won’t post yet!

I Dreamed a Dream
There was a time when men were kind,
And their voices were soft,
And their words inviting.
There was a time when love was blind,
And the world was a song,
And the song was exciting.
There was a time when it all went wrong...

I dreamed a dream in time gone by,
When hope was high and life, worth living.
I dreamed that love would never die,
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.
Then I was young and unafraid,
And dreams were made and used and wasted.
There was no ransom to be paid,
No song unsung, no wine, untasted.

But the tigers come at night,
With their voices soft as thunder,
As they tear your hope apart,
And they turn your dream to shame.

He slept a summer by my side,
He filled my days with endless wonder...
He took my childhood in his stride,
But he was gone when autumn came!

And still I dream he'll come to me,
That we will live the years together,
But there are dreams that cannot be,
And there are storms we cannot weather!

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I'm living,
So different now from what it seemed...
Now life has killed the dream I dreamed...

That’s so sad @Pashazade

I liked two sentences today.

‘She felt the dissolution and dispersal inside her of the frightful shades of hatred, and the birth in her heart of something beyond expression, an indefinable warmth that was joy, trust, love.´

And

´…. the heart of a man without feeling cannot be softened’

At last something good has happened 🤣

Yes! Although Javert does not come across as someone to be crossed, even by the maire!

From today’s reading I have to say Thenardier is the ultimate CF! 😔 How does he dare?