The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

A historical novel set in Paris in 1482, centred on the great cathedral of Notre-Dame. Its characters include Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer, Esmeralda, a young street dancer admired by many, and Claude Frollo, the troubled archdeacon. Their lives become tangled through desire, pity and fear. Hugo wrote it partly to draw attention to the neglected medieval buildings of France, and the cathedral is almost a character itself. The book is a vivid portrait of a city and an age, and a moving tale about cruelty and kindness.