Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

According to Wikipedia: Les Misérables, translated variously from the French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims), is an 1862 French novel by author Victor Hugo and is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century. It follows the lives and interactions of several French characters over a seventeen-year period in the early nineteenth century, starting in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 June Rebellion... Les Misérables is known to many through its numerous stage and screen adaptations, most notably the stage musical of the same name.