Quasimodo ventures from his tower to the joyous festival of fools, but the crowd turns cruel and rejects him because of the way he looks. The gypsy Esmeralda rescues him and he finds himself battling to save the people and the city he loves--while reminding us to see people as they are rather than how they appear.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame, by Victor Hugo, is part of the Barnes & Noble Classics series, which offers quality editions at affordable prices to the student and the general reader, including new scholarship, thoughtful design, and pages of carefully crafted extras. Here are some of the remarkable features of Barnes & Noble Classics: New introductions commissioned from today's top writers and scholars Biographies of the authors Chronologies of contemporary...

Clopin bought Esmeralda from the gypsies when she was young. Dancing in the square at the festival, Esmeralda is spotted by Jehan, the evil brother of the good archdeacon Claude Frollo. When he sets Quasimodo out to kidnap Esmeralda, Phoebus, Captain of the Guards, rescues her and captures Quasimodo. Quasimodo is sentenced to be flogged, and the only one who will give him water while he is tied in the square is Esmeralda. After Clopin forces Esmeralda...