The Man Who Laughs

One of the most famous novels by Victor Hugo, «The Man Who Laughs», along with «Les Misérables» and «The Hunchback of Notre-Dame», is undoubtedly one of the masterpieces of French literature of the 19th century. It seems to have everything:... an atmosphere of mystery, magnificent pages devoted to English history, a shipwreck, a child abandoned under mysterious circumstances, ruthless robbers, a strange document found in a sealed bottle on the seashore, a blind beauty, a misanthropic benefactor, a pet wolf, and a romantic hero. Gwynplaine's appearance is horrific: «a mouth that opens to the ears», a shapeless nose, and a face «that could not be looked at without laughter», however, his life path, full of incredible adventures, will leave no reader indifferent.