Les Misérables (Illustrated) (THE GREAT CLASSICS LIBRARY)

Before there was a movie (several, actually) and a musical, there was a book. A very, very large book, in five volumes. Its main story is of Jean Valjean, imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread and then hunted implacably by Inspector Javert as he tries to live an honest and productive life, and act as a foster father to the waif Cosette. But the novel is packed with far too many characters, events, ideas to fit into a movie or a musical. Even the secondary story - that of the students protesting and taking to the barricades in June, 1832 - is only one of many in this bursting, vital book.
The novel also takes the reader all over France and through various parts of nineteenth century Paris, offering a colorful backdrop to the stirring and touching events it portrays.