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?

This is my favourite quote of the chapter (speaking also as a physician)
"Am not I a physician like them? I also have my patients, and then, too, I have some whom I call my unfortunates."

I like the idea of his man-shed 😄

Also annoyed that he imposes his piety on the women to the extent that they’re not able to feel safe in their own house (particularly given that there are actually some valuables, now that we know about the silver!) - that, combined with poor Mlle Baptistine’s chair almost made me think we were supposed to feel critical of him, but actually I think Hugo just doesn’t notice / care about the women’s vulnerability and lack of agency 🙁

I’m seeing something like this
a.1stdibscdn.com/antique-mahogany-louis-xvi-sofa-settee-w-schumacher-jacobean-fabric-for-sale/f_51252/f_323819821674527843904/f_32381982_1674527844644_bg_processed.jpg?disable=upscale&auto=webp&quality=60&width=640

I wish we knew Mlle Baptistine’s story too. Did she flee to Italy as well, or did she stay home and witness the destruction and scattering of her family? Did she have to look after aged parents while they missed their son? Did she lose the chance to marry, as well as eventually losing her family home and income? She must have been glad when her brother was promoted to Bishop but perhaps didn’t expect to be living in such straightened circumstances - but then perhaps she’s glad to be alive.
I imagine she just wants a nice sofa to sit on and quietly read a book. A room of her own.

@MotherOfCatBoyThat sofa is fabulous! Agree about wanting to know Mlle Baptistine’s story too.

That sofa is amazing! It's beautiful 😍
If I were Mlle Baptistine, I would try to invite the curé around as often as possible to get a proper dinner!

Ah @MotherOfCatBoy thank you so much for linking to that picture! Somehow I failed to post my link 🙄

I was trying to give us all some illustration to put all of this in ´technicolour’ and to enjoy the French culture 😊 Also I want Baptistine to have something nice!!!

I was trying to link to these, as the kind of thing… I was once told the front of the chairs at this time had to be wide to accommodate the dresses the women wore??

www.1stdibs.com/fr/meubles/si%C3%A8ges/berg%C3%A8res/paire-de-chaises-en-soie-rembourr%C3%A9es-de-la-maison-jansen-attribu%C3%A9e-%C3%A0-la-maison-berger/id-f_45311492/

Wider than a door frame if Baptistine didn’t have a sofa, just a huge chair 🤣

https://www.chezpluie.com/products/pair-of-large-louis-xv-bergere-armchairs-19th-century?srsltid=AfmBOoqHoMSYfVHd6uRqJfP8HYFmB6UcJXxOCzLT1oWhepGz4p8ejIb4

Chapter 7 - Cravatte

I enjoyed today’s chapter. Reading this I think safety for Bienvenu and the women he lives with is simply not a consideration in his mind. Bienvenu has complete faith in God’s will. He faces the bandits in the mountains and is rewarded with the cathedral treasure. He believes God and not the devil sent him stolen goods from violent men.

Re leaving the house unlocked and endangering the women - I think perhaps Baptistine trusts Bienvenu’s view of their safety or believes it herself whilst Madame Magloire would have the bedroom door wedged with something or keep a knife to hand? 🤣

It is the very definition of faith from Bienvenu.

Yet I like the fact that he calculates that the hospital needs the cathedral treasure and identifies a choice to be made here. So it must have been sold on.

Bienvenu is very worldly with his need for cold hard cash for the poor over simply returning the treasure to the cathedral.

(As the last line of the chapter says
« La question est de savoir si cela doit faire retour à la cathédrale ou à l’hôpital. »)

Going back to the toilet items that are keeping Bienvenu a little more human for us, AI says he would have had

• Nécessaires de Toilette (Toiletry Kits):Wealthy men carried travel cases holding essential grooming tools like toothbrushes, razors, shaving brushes, combs, and mirrors, often beautifully crafted from materials like ivory, ebony, or mother-of-pearl.
• Shaving Gear: Oval shaving bowls with crescent cutouts for lathering, ewers, and basins were standard for home grooming.
• Hygiene Tools: Toothbrush holders, tongue scrapers, and soap boxes were common components of a gentleman's personal grooming set.

And of course chamber pots/commodes but I think Hugo meant the items above?

I’m late to the party, joining today. I’m catching up on the Wilbour translation I just got while I wait for the French one to come then I will try to resurrect my uni French and do a combo. Thanks for the push.

His ease and savoir faire with bandits reminds me of Le Comte (de Monte Cristo) and desr old Luigi Vampa!

@Neitherherenorthere- don’t forget that he would have had make-up and hair powder too!

I also enjoyed today’s chapter and was laughing out loud at the Bishop’s conversation with the Mayor.

My favourite sentence though is the one that describes the beautiful things that Cravatte left for the Bishop, the things that were so tempting to steal to help the poor. Can’t help wondering if Cravatte suspected what would probably happen to the treasure.

C’étaient là de bien belles choses, et bien tentantes, et bien bonnes à voler au profit des malheureux.

I also want to thank @AgualusasL0verfor the thread, as I have now read in French for every day for a week, which I’m very pleased about! I didn’t expect to enjoy it this much though, nor to be transcribing so many sentences - but I guess that’s a tribute to the calibre of the book.

@Benvenuto Yes - I was indeed forgetting the make up and hair powder too 🤣

You’re right that is a beautiful sentence 😊

Your post reminded me of reading Famous Five to my daughters. We talked a lot about how we could enjoy the story because the adventures were fun, but still recognise that the way that girls were written about (among other things) isn’t great!
We turned it into “Aren’t we lucky that we can be girls and not have to pretend to be boys if we want to join in with the adventure- we can be girls and make our own choices.” Which I realise isn’t maybe totally true but I want my girls to believe they can do anything!

@MotherOfCatBoy I thought of the Comte and Luigi Vampa too! 😄

I do like Hugo’s dry humour, as shown at the start of chapter 8 (the senator ignoring “such hindrances as conscience, good faith, justice, and duty”). But then the chapter gets serious (and philosophical). I took from this that Hugo disagrees with the humanist view of there being nothing after death, so we should all make the most of life - but maybe he was being more subtle and showing that the senator’s way of looking at things is missing the point, and that doing good for others is worthwhile whether you believe in life after death or not?

It’s a tricky one, an old dilemma ever since atheism started to be spoken about overtly (that is, since society stopped being overwhelmingly religious). I think the Senator has clearly been selfish and not hesitated to enrich himself and make his life easy. But some of the things he says are not, in today’s terms, that unusual, and you have to question whether atheism always equals a lack of moral responsibility. Likewise, as you hint @DuPainDuVinDuFromage , perhaps you don’t need to believe in a deity to have a moral conscience. It’s interesting, and I think readers in the mid 19thC would probably have had different views to a lot of people today.

Just catching up - I liked the fact the Bishop just cracked on, visited his friends and got the cathedral valuables back into the bargain. I'm not sure that even Cravatte wants to risk eternal damnation for killing a 'man of God', despite all his other actions. Either that or the Bishops reputation preceded him and Cravatte knew that instead of being hoarded by the rich cathedral, our Bishop would ensure the wealth was given back to the poor - as evidenced by his final thoughts in the chapter?

And I thought it was a hugely longwinded speech by the senator to not really say a huge amount - this Bishop didn't even really try and counter his argument. But I'm not a religious person either and whilst I would say my moral code and ethics are much better than the senator (of course I would!), he's not wrong with some of his statements...

To hark back to the lack of a lock on the Bishops house - it wasn't that long ago that people here in the UK left their doors unlocked - and people still do in a lot of places - and so whilst I get that the two women were justifiably uncomfortable, I don't know if it was as unusual or risky as we think it is - again, looking at things with our modern eyes?

Wow! One minute we have a long description of a building and furniture, then we have an entertaining anecdote, then, bam! Deep philosophical questions!

Is this normal pacing for this kind of novel does anyone know? I’m not experienced with Hugo or European literature like this. If it was say, Dickens, I’d assume the novel had been serialised in a magazine first, but I’m not sure what to make of this?

The senator is one of those people you don't want to end up stuck with at a party - talk about long-winded and liking the sound of his own voice.

I agree @SanFranBear that not locking doors was probably not uncommon in those days. I assume more humble abodes wouldn't have had any means of locking and just have a latch.

Loving all the beautiful chairs/sofas.

I like that the Bishop did not dignify the idiot Senator (who didn’t know what he was talking about) with a defence of his own faith, lifestyle and philosophy.

The Bishop just made a point.

I thought Hugo was pointing out inequality and injustice in society whilst showing the reader that conscience is all there is, whatever your beliefs or philosophy. The only differences between us are ones of conscience.

The Senator has the privilege of his viewpoint and is not even aware of the injustice.

A goose is NOT a turkey. Chestnuts are not truffles. Like is not being compared with like. A philosophy is not really a solid argument if it’s only available to one group of people.

The Senator thinks he could “allow” the poor:

Less/nothing - plus a cosy comforting fairytale of an afterlife and a loving God.

or less/nothing - plus no comfort at all.

But he’s still happy for them to have less/nothing while he has more than enough!

But @MotherOfCatBoy said it better than me! 🤣

@SanFranBear I would suspect doors were locked overnight though, yes open during the day was standard for a long time here particularly in the countryside, but most people locked up at night. Obvs if you don’t have a lock then you don’t have a lock but if you do and there are valuables of any kind in the house you’d probably lock the door overnight.