Victor HUGO (1862). Les misérables, C1 3000 Headwords, Penguin Readers,

By Toni Munar, 1º Bachillerato EFL

Jean Valjean was a terrible assassin and thief in France, and really known in Paris. He had been in prison for nineteen years and it had changed him. The last time he stole was in a cold winter when he had nothing to eat, but that theft made him rich and let him start a new life as Monsieur Madeleine. One day he met Fantine, and promised her that he was going to rescue her daughter from the Thenardiers' and give her back. He did that, but by the time he got Cossette, Fantine’s daughter, Fantine had died. That’s why Jean decided to help Cossette all he could, and give her a good life. Marius was a boy from Paris, the son of a colonel in the battle of Waterloo. He met Cossette and fell in love with her. Both Cossette and Marius could see that their love was something impossible, but in the end they got married and lived very happily

I found Les Misérables very interesting, I do really like stories set in the past, which have a bit of history but that at the same time tell a great story. I always said that I would have loved living in the 1800s or 1900s; I think it would be something wonderful finding all that’s described in the books. At the beginning I thought the book was going to be a bit boring, but while I kept reading I liked it more and more, because of the atmosphere of the French revolution.

I would recommend the book to any person who likes history and action and love stories, because the descriptions of the places and people are extremely good and the plot is really good, too. I particularly chose the book because I saw the musical advertised and I wanted to know what it was about. One thing I found particularly interesting was the way people at the time trusted other people without knowing them. It really caught my attention because nowadays you wouldn’t trust someone you had just met but, as I said before, that’s because of the era and things change. That’s the main reason why I liked this book so much and I recommend it.