Les Misérables

Hugo, Victor. Les misérables. London : Penguin, 2012. 

 

Source: http://www.penguin.com.au

A peasant is imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread and he is releases after 19 years. As an ex-convict, Jean Valjean will struggle against many odds until he becomes a rich man and is made mayor. All this time he will have to deal with  police inspector Javert, who dedicates his life to recapture him. Beyond the particular story of Jean Valjean, Victor Hugo depicts the France of the first half of the 19th Century and its Revolution. This is a lyrical and long novel with a atmospheric and thought-provoking tone.

An acclaimed musical version of this story, starring Australian Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and directed by Tom Hooper, was released in 2012. Highlights of the movie are the impressive sets, the performances and the songs. More information about the movie can be found on IMDB.

  + Award winning musical, including three Oscars and several other awards.
         + Les Misérables in our library catalogue GO!



Sources: Penguin, IMDB, GoodReads, NoveList (through EBSCOhost), The Guardian Books 

Atonement

McEwan, Ian. Atonement. New York: Doubleday/Talese, 2002.

 

Source: NoveList

The innocent mistake of a 13-year-old English girl changes the life of her whole family, when she accuses her sister's lover of a crime he did not commit. A leisurely paced novel with a reflective tone and a haunting plot, which also depicts very well the times that headed to the World War II. "Every lustrously rendered, commanding scene is charged with both despair and diabolical wit, and McEwan’s Jamesian prose covers the emotional spectrum from searing eroticism to toxic guilt" (Booklist review in NoveList).

An adaptation of this story to the big screen was directed by Joe Wright and released in 2007. Starring Keira Knigthley and James McAvoy, this movie was entirely filmed in the UK and won an Oscar for Original Music Score.

+ The movie in IMDB
  +  Watch an interview with Ian McEwan just after the publication of his first novel The Cement Garden in 1979.
      + Atonement in our library catalogue GO!

Sources: NoveList, PublishersWeekly, IMDB, BBC Archive, The Guardian (Australia)