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'One might almost say that he had assumed its [the cathedral's] form as the snail takes on the form of its shell.' Victor Hugo on Quasimodo The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of the great love stories but it is served up with lashings of horror. An instant classic first published in 1831, it's set in the Paris of the 15th century, featuring a cast of thousands. Three men are in love with a beautiful street dancer called Esmerelda: the handsome Captain Phoebus, the wicked Archdeacon Frollo and his adoptive son Quasimodo, the bell-ringer of the cathedral. Naturally, this situation leads to trouble. Wrongly accused of murdering Phoebus, Esmerelda is sentenced to death and rescued from the gallows by Quasimodo, who memorably carries her up to the tower. Victor Hugo claimed he wrote this book to save Paris's amazing gothic centre-piece from the 'demolishers'. And such was the success of his book that the immense building had to be restored to cope with the influx of tourists its popularity produced. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Arcturus Classics series brings together high-quality paperback editions of classics works, presented with contemporary graphic cover designs. Together they make a wonderful collection which is perfect for any home library.

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Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was one of France's greatest ever writers. He is best known for Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. As a young man he was a committed royalist but as he grew older he was increasingly drawn to republicanism. When he returned to Paris after exile in 1870 he was a national hero, but his personal life took a turn for the worse. He suffered a stroke, his daughter was committed to an insane asylum and his two sons died. Isabel F. Hapgood (1851-1928) was an American ecumenist, writer and translator who specialised in Russian and French literature. Her celebrated translations include Leo Tolstoy's Childhood, Boyhood, Youth, Chekov's The Seagull and Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre-Dame. Her own published works include Epic Songs of Russia and Little Russian and St. Petersburg Tales.

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