Thunderstruck: The Novel of the Century: The Extraordinary Adventure of ‘Les Misérables’ by David Bellos

Considering claims by David Bellos that Les Miserables was the greates novel of the 19th century, the article seeks to get to grips with the core attitudes of Hugo's novel and then puts them in relation both to the political and literary context of the time and to patterns of behaviour in Hugo's own life. It suggests that in fact the book is crucial above all in consolidating the ever stronger relationship between liberal politics and success and celebrity in the arts.