Book Description

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a French Romantic/Gothic novel by Victor Hugo. The novel's original French title, Notre-Dame de Paris, is a double entendre: it refers to Notre Dame Cathedral, on which the story is centred, and Esmeralda, the novel's main character who is "our lady of Paris" and the centre of the human drama within the story. The story is set in Paris in 1482 during the reign of Louis XI. The gypsy Esmeralda (born as Agnes) captures the hearts of many men, including those of Captain Phoebus and Pierre Gringoire, but especially Quasimodo and his guardian Archdeacon Claude Frollo. Frollo is torn between his obsessive lust for Esmeralda and the rules of Notre Dame Cathedral. He orders Quasimodo to kidnap her, but Quasimodo is captured by Phoebus and his guards, who save Esmeralda.