Les misérables, Tome I: Fantine: reading level, length and free edition

Name: Les misérables, Tome I: Fantine
Author: Victor Hugo

Les misérables, Tome I: Fantine by Victor Hugo is a novel in French. Our team rates it B2. It runs to 111,879 words with 11,993 different word forms, about 9.5–19 h of reading at 200 to 100 words per minute, and it is free from Project Gutenberg.

By the Readlang Mobile team (an independent app, not affiliated with readlang.com). Updated 31 October 2026.

Cover of Les misérables, Tome I: Fantine

Author: Victor Hugo
Language: French
Level: B2
Form: novel
Words: 111,879
Different word forms: 11,993
Forms for 95% / 98%: 6,400 / 9,756
Reading time: 9.5–19 h
Free edition: Project Gutenberg

Première partie du chef-d’œuvre social de Hugo, où l’on rencontre Jean Valjean.

Is Les misérables, Tome I: Fantine right for your level?

To recognise 95% of the running words in Les misérables, Tome I: Fantine, you need its 6,400 most frequent word forms; for 98%, the share at which most readers manage a novel without a dictionary, 9,756. The median French B2 book in our table needs 5,364 forms for 95%, so by this measure the book is harder than most for its level: number 8 of 8, easiest first.

A word form is any spelling that appears in the text, so “walk” and “walked” count twice, and names count too. These numbers are a guide to how much vocabulary the book asks for, not a test. The level itself was set by hand by our team. Before you commit, read one page of the free edition and count the words you do not know: the one-page test takes two minutes.

Which words should you know before you start?

These are the words that Les misérables, Tome I: Fantine uses most often but that are not among the 2,000 most common word forms across all 37 French books in our library; the number is how many times each appears. Names of people and places are left out. Learning a handful of them first makes the opening chapters easier.

bagne 54
forçat 34
accusé 31
conventionnel 30
volé 28
bâton 27
autorité 24
rêverie 22
voyageur 21
hôpital 21
charité 21
huissier 21
école 20
instinct 20
âmes 20

How does it begin?

En 1815, M. Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel était évêque de Digne. C’était un vieillard d’environ soixante-quinze ans; il occupait le siège de Digne depuis 1806.

From the Project Gutenberg edition, which is in the public domain. If this paragraph already feels slow, try a book one level lower.

How long does it take to read?

Hours to read *Les misérables, Tome I: Fantine* (111,879 words) at four reading speeds.
Words	100 wpm	150 wpm	200 wpm	250 wpm
111,879	19 h	12 h	9.5 h	7.5 h

Learners reading a book at their level often manage 100 to 150 words per minute, and readers in their first language 200 to 250. Where these speeds come from, and a calculator for your own: How long does it take to read a book?

Where can you read it for free?

The free edition is Project Gutenberg eBook #17489. Project Gutenberg publishes books that are in the public domain in the United States, as EPUB, Kindle and plain text, free and without an account. Copyright terms differ by country: if you live outside the United States, check that the book is out of copyright where you are before you download it.

To read it with a translation over every word you tap, open it in Readlang Mobile on iPhone or iPad.