For great events, great language was needed. It recorded sweeping changes: kingdoms rose and fell, peoples were enslaved or freed. This fullness, overfullness, was endemic to the genre to which “Les Misérables” belonged, the nineteenth-century historical novel, a form that was immensely popular in its day. Even after the trims, his version is still more than twelve hundred pages long. “It is not uncommon to find eight or ten adjectives appended to a single noun,” Denny noted, with wonder. Or he said them too many times the first time. But others, he was not ashamed to say, were due to his feeling that the book was just too long-winded.

Certain of them, he said, were for sense. Proof listeners: Mary J, Jeanie, nancymcdaniel87, Eduardo, Woolly Bee, Larry Wilson, Michele Eaton, Kim, and KHandĬo-BC for this project and Cast list compiled by linnyįor further information, including links to online text, reader information, RSS feeds, CD cover or other formats (if available), please go to the LibriVox catalog page for this recording.įor more free audio books or to become a volunteer reader, visit few years ago, reading the introduction to an English-language version of Hugo’s “ Les Misérables,” I found the translator, Norman Denny, confessing that he had made a number of cuts in the French text.

Various other roles read by: Woolly Bee, Joseph James, Bella Buss, Etel Buss, Joseph Tabler, TriciaG, Eduardo, Jason in Panama, Michele Eaton, Jessie Yun, Lydia, Leanne Yau, Gaby, David Purdy, Kathrine Engan, Melanie T, Sonia, Tomas Peter, April Walters, KHand, linny, rosalinger, Elijah, BeniaminoMassimo, Sarah Terry, Ashur Gharavi, Eva Davis, RecordingPerson, Zames Curran The book was recommended by Pope Francis to engaged couples in 2015 as preparation for marriage. Despite the threat of death and the fear of never laying eyes on one another again, Renzo and Lucy maintain a deep love for each other throughout the book that displays the true sacrifice and commitment of marriage. Little does Renzo know that Lucy has been kidnapped by a criminal, The Unnamed, feared by all the people of Northern Italy, where the story is set. The two main characters, Renzo and Lucy, are engaged to be married when Lucy tragically disappears. One of the most famous Italian books in history, The Betrothed was written by Alessandro Manzoni in 1827.

The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni