Hunchback of Notre Dame

Summary

In the grotesque bell-ringer Quasimodo, Victor Hugo created one of the most vivid characters in classic fiction. Quasimodo’s doomed love for the beautiful gypsy girl Esmerelda is an example of the traditional beauty and the beast love theme. Yet, set against the massive background of Notre Dame de Paris and interwoven with the sacred and secular life of medieval France, the story takes on a larger perspective.

In this brilliant reading by Bill Homewood, Hugo’s characters come to life like never before: the poet Gringoire, the tormented priest Claude Frollo, the upright, fun-loving captain Phoebus, and above all, Quasimodo and Esmerelda themselves. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a tale peppered with humor but fueled by the anguish which unfolds beneath the bells of the great Paris cathedral.