The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Written by Victor Hugo

Narrated by PJ Roscoe

“Excess of grief, like excess of joy is a violent thing which lasts but a short time. The heart of man cannot remain long in one extremity.”

In the teeming city of medieval Paris lives Quasimodo, a man born with a hunchback who lives in the Notre Dame Cathedral as a bellringer. He is treated despicably by everyone around him, save for Esmeralda, a beautiful woman who has attracted the eyes of many in Paris. His love for Esmeralda will drive him to do daring feats of bravery to keep her safe from the world and those who would harm her, even if it leads to his own undoing.

The story of The Hunchback of Notre Dame is complex and beautiful, with a great emphasis on exposing the power struggles that were prevalent in this era of France between the impoverished and the religious elite. It also deals with the inhumane treatments of various ethnicities represented in the pages and the injustices of the legal system of the day. Perhaps most of all, the book is a love letter from Victor Hugo to the Gothic architecture of the time, with extensive descriptions of the artistry and beauty found in the stone walls of the cathedrals of Paris.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spotify Audiobooks
• Release date: May 25, 2021
• ISBN: 9781662258558

Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was a French poet and novelist. Born in Besançon, Hugo was the son of a general who served in the Napoleonic army. Raised on the move, Hugo was taken with his family from one outpost to the next, eventually setting with his mother in Paris in 1803. In 1823, he published his first novel, launching a career that would earn him a reputation as a leading figure of French Romanticism. His Gothic novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) was a bestseller throughout Europe, inspiring the French government to restore the legendary cathedral to its former glory. During the reign of King Louis-Philippe, Hugo was elected to the National Assembly of the French Second Republic, where he spoke out against the death penalty and poverty while calling for public education and universal suffrage. Exiled during the rise of Napoleon III, Hugo lived in Guernsey from 1855 to 1870. During this time, he published his literary masterpiece Les Misérables (1862), a historical novel which has been adapted countless times for theater, film, and television. Towards the end of his life, he advocated for republicanism around Europe and across the globe, cementing his reputation as a defender of the people and earning a place at Paris’ Panthéon, where his remains were interred following his death from pneumonia. His final words, written on a note only days before his death, capture the depth of his belief in humanity: “To love is to act.”