Victor Hugo

In nineteenth century France, a former convict tries to overcome his past and is asked to raise a prostitute's daughter, while being hounded by a policeman who vows to put him back behind bars.

The Man Who Laughs (1869) is a novel by Victor Hugo. Written while Hugo was living in exile on the island of Guernsey, The Man Who Laughs is set between the 17th and 18th centuries in England, a time of political unrest and class conflict in which he identified parallels to France of the 19th century. Although the novel was largely panned at the time, it has since been recognized as one of Hugo's greatest works. The Man Who Laughs has inspired over...