Les Miserables (The Modern Library Library of the World's Best Books, ML G3)

viii, 1222 pp. Translated into English by Charles Wilbour, woodcut illustration on jacket, and mirrored on front flyleaf, by Stephen Alcorn. "In tracing the life of Jean Valjean, the peasant who steals a loaf of bread to feed his starving children and thereby becomes a convict, Victor Hugo wrote a romance that continues to touch succeeding generations of readers. The detective Javert's relentless pursuit of Valjean, the latter's escape through the sewers of Paris and the dramatic depiction of the Battle of Waterloo all remain unforgettable high points of fiction."