Les Misérables (1862)
0.2817Canon Score · ranked #34 all time
Aggregated from 8 of 14 authoritative lists, weighted by authority and adjusted for each list's scope and age. How scoring works →
About the book
In this story of the trials of the peasant Jean Valjean--a man unjustly imprisoned, baffled by destiny, and hounded by his nemesis, the magnificently realized, ambiguously malevolent police detective Javert--Hugo achieves the sort of rare imaginative resonance that allows a work of art to transcend its genre.
Why it ranks #34
Every list on which Les Misérables appears, with its position as published.
| List | Authority | Position |
|---|---|---|
| OCLC/WorldCat Top 500 Novels (2019) | Editorial list | #31 / 500 |
| BBC 100 Stories That Shaped the World | Major international poll | #54 / 100 |
| The Novel 100 (Burt) | Editorial list | #97 / 100 |
| BBC Big Read Top 200 (2003) | Editorial list | #114 / 200 |
| Guardian 1000 Novels (2009) | Critics' canon | Selected |
| 1001 Books You Must Read (union) | Critics' canon | Selected |
| Bloom, The Western Canon (1994) | Editorial list | Selected |
| Telegraph 100 Novels (2009) | Editorial list | Selected |