The Novel of the Century

The Novel of the Century brings to life the extraordinary story of how Victor Hugo managed to write his novel of the downtrodden despite a revolution, a coup d'état and political exile; how he pulled off the deal of the century to get it published, and set it on course to become the novel that epitomizes the grand sweep of history in the nineteenth century. Placing a century of scholarship into narrative form, it is packed full of information about the book's background and design. Yet this biography of a masterpiece also shows how and why the moral and social message of the novel remains full of meaning for our time.