I present to the Arabic reader this direct translation of Les Misérables, as written by Victor Hugo in his native language, where his poetic voice, the rhythm of his expressions, and his unmistakable, inimitable metaphors are evident. Of Hugo's six major novels, Les Misérables remains the most famous and the one with the deepest impact on the human mind and conscience. Its heroes—Jean Valjean, Fantine, Cosette, Javert, Marius, and the boy Gavroche—have entered the realm of legend and become immortal symbols of suffering, hope, and resistance in the face of injustice.

It is a novel that celebrates the common man, exposes the wounds of the marginalized, and strongly defends the values ​​of goodness, justice, tolerance, and fairness. It is also the story of the barricades of Paris, sometimes victorious and sometimes defeated and martyred, the story of Angolra and his righteous companions, the story of the dark sewers of Paris where Jean Valjean performs the heroic act of saving the wounded Marius, and the story of the scum of humanity represented by Thénardier, a man of baseness, hostility, and the worship of money. It is a multi-faceted novel, pulsating with heroism and sacrifice at times and depicting baseness and greed at other times, revealing the depths of man in his moments of glory and defeat.

It is not for nothing that the great novelist Tolstoy said about it: It is the greatest novel in literary history. This translation is an attempt to preserve the poetic spirit and human glow of the original text, and to bring the Arab reader closer to Hugo as he wanted to be heard, without an intermediary who would obscure his artistic and spiritual flow.

It is an invitation to read Les Misérables as a human epic whose brilliance will not fade no matter how much time passes. Ziad Al-Awda