The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Hapgood Translation, Unabridged)

Book excerpt: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (French: Notre-Dame de Paris, "Our Lady of Paris") is a novel by Victor Hugo published in 1831. The French title refers to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, on which the story is focused, and it is also a metaphor for Esmeralda, who is the center of the human drama within the story. The story begins on Epiphany (6 January), 1482, the day of the Feast of Fools in Paris, France. Quasimodo, a deformed hunchback who is the bell-ringer of Notre Dame, is introduced by his crowning as the Pope of Fools. Esmeralda, a beautiful Gypsy with a kind and generous heart, captures the hearts of many men, including those of Captain Phoebus and Pierre Gringoire, a poor street poet, but especially those of Quasimodo and his adoptive father, Claude Frollo, the Archdeacon of Notre Dame... This e-book presents the classic and unabridged translation by Isabel F. Hapgood, carefully formatted and with a detailed table of contents.