Les misérables

Summary: A generation after the French Revolution, Jean Valjean, having spent 20 years doing hard labor for stealing a loaf of bread, is finally released, and his fortunes change after an encounter with a saintly Bishop. His new life, with success as a factory owner and mayor of a small town is threatened years later by the arrival of Inspector Javert, who was a guard in Valjean's prison and is now appalled to find a criminal leading the life of a gentleman. Valjean runs again, this time with Cosette, the small child of Fantine, a peasant who fell ill and died as a result of losing her job in Valjean's factory. Valjean raises Cosette as his own daughter in Paris, until she falls in love with Marius, a student revolutionary. Marius, son of a noble officer in Napoleon's army who had died at Waterloo, is at first an ardent champion of Bonapartism. But he evolves politically, risking his life for democracy during the Paris insurrection of 1832. Wounded at the barricades and facing certain death, he is saved by Valjean, who carries him to safety through the sewers of Paris, pursued by Javert, who succeeds in capturing Valjean at last.