The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
In 1482, under the vaulted roof of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, the deformed bellringer Quasimodo lives half-feral under the guardianship of the severe Archdeacon Claude Frollo, whose obsession with the Romani street-dancer Esmeralda is driving him to ruin. When Esmeralda is accused of a murder she did not commit, Quasimodo gives her sanctuary in the cathedral's heights, and the city's Parlement, king, and mob close in. Victor Hugo's 1831 novel is at once a thunderous melodrama, a fierce love letter to Gothic architecture that helped save the real cathedral from demolition, and a sprawling portrait of fifteenth-century Paris. It remains one of the founding works of French Romantic fiction and one of the most adapted novels of its century.
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Also by Victor Hugo
What you might want to know about The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
In 1482 Paris, the Romani dancer Esmeralda performs in the square outside Notre-Dame with her trained goat. The cathedral's deformed bell ringer Quasimodo, his master the archdeacon Claude Frollo, and a captain of the king's archers each fall under her spell, and the city tightens around her.
Yes. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame was first published in French in 1831 and is in the public domain. Free editions of older translations are available legally through Project Gutenberg.
No. Disney's 1996 animated film is much lighter than the novel, which has a tragic ending. Victor Hugo's original is dark, focused on social injustice and architectural preservation in 15th-century Paris.
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame was written by Victor Hugo, published in 1831 by Tantor Media.
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is 436 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame takes most readers 7 to 9 hours to finish.
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is a standalone novel by Victor Hugo, not part of a series.
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
