Victor Hugo was born in 1802. His father was a general in Napoleon's army, so the family travelled all around Europe during Victor's childhood.

Victor was a very clever boy. He was writing and publishing books of poetry when he was only seven years old! At the age of 17, he started a magazine which reviewed books and poetry. He then entered the army and was awarded the Legion of Honneur, France's highest military award.

Victor Hugo became interested in politics. He was particularly interested in trying to make life better and more equal for the poor. He thought that a Republic would help to pass laws that would be fairer for poor people, so he supported a Revolution against the Emperor in 1848 .

Hugo became involved in the 1848 Revolution fighting in the streets of Paris with students, Parisians and poor people to try to bring a Republic to France.

Two of Hugo's most famous novels are "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Les Misérables".

"The Hunchback of Notre Dame" tells the story of Quasimodo the bell ringer of Notre Dame de Paris who fell in love with the beautiful gipsy princess, called Esmeralda. In French, this book is called "Notre Dame de Paris".

The Disney movie

The novel encouraged people to take an interest in the old cathedral that had fallen into a total state of disrepair and in danger of demolition. Thanks to this book, Notre Dame was restored and is now one of the world's best known churches. It has been filmed many times and most recently turned into a Walt Disney cartoon.

LES MISÉRABLES (1862), is Hugo's most popular work. It has been filmed many times and is a very successful musical on the stage.

Hugo thought of the idea for the story one day when he saw a poor woman begging bread and money from a rich man in an expensive coach. The story is about a convict called Jean Valjean who is sentenced to 19 years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread. When he is released, he plans to rob a kindly bishop. The bishop saves Jean from the police by saying that he gave Jean the silver which he had really stolen.

In return, Jean turns his life to helping others, though all the time he is pursued by the police inspector Javert. With his adopted daughter, Cossette, Jean goes to Paris and helps the Parisians in their revolution against a bad ruler. This was what Hugo had done in real life.

After defeat in a war against Prussia (Germany) in 1870, France at long last became a republic and Victor Hugo was able to return to his beloved France.

He died in Paris in 1885 and his body lay in state below the Arc de Triomphe, where people came from all over France and Europe to pay their respects to a man who was both a great writer and a great humanitarian.

Did you know?

Hugo holds the record for the longest sentence in French literature, in Les Misérables. It is a massive 823 words in length!