Les Miserables (7 page)

Victor Hugo
was born in France in 1802. He started writing when he was very young. He published his first book of poetry when he was only twenty and later wrote several successful plays and novels, including
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
and
Les Misérables.
Hugos stories are best known for their richly realized characters—simple people who overcome great obstacles.

During the 1840s, Hugo became involved in French politics. When Emperor Napoleon III overthrew the government in 1851, Hugo fled France for Belgium. Although he did not return for almost twenty years, his passion for writing never wavered. Victor Hugo, one of the best Romantic writers of his time, died in France in 1885.

Monica Kulling
was born in British Columbia, Canada. Ms. Kulling is the author of the Stepping Stones adaptations of
Little Women, Les Misérables,
and
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
Her credits also include three picture books, many poems published in
Cricket
magazine, and several poetry anthologies. She lives in Toronto, Canada, with her partner and their two dogs, Sophie and Alice.

Text copyright © 1995 by Random House, Inc. Cover illustration copyright © 2001 by Dan Andreasen. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House Children's Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto. Originally published in a slightly different form by Random House, Inc., in 1995, and subsequently published with a new cover by Random House, Inc., in 2001.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kulling, Monica.
Les misérables / by Victor Hugo; adapted by Monica Kulling.
   p. cm.
“A Stepping Stone book.”
SUMMARY:
Trying to forget his past and live an honest life, escaped convict Jean Valjean risks his freedom to take care of a motherless young girl during a period of political unrest in Paris.
eISBN: 978-0-307-75839-2
[1. France—Fiction. 2. Ex-convicts—Fiction.] I. Hugo, Victor, 1802-1885.
Misérables. II. Title.
PZ7.K9490155Mis 2005 [Fic]—dc22 2005003842

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