First published 2021
The gypsy dancer Esmeralda moves through the streets of medieval Paris, her beauty drawing admirers and enemies alike. Among those captivated by her is Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bell-ringer who watches the city from his tower in Notre-Dame Cathedral. But his master, the archdeacon Claude Frollo, also desires Esmeralda and will use any means to claim her. When Frollo's obsession drives him to increasingly desperate acts, Quasimodo must choose between loyalty to his master and protection of the woman he loves. The cathedral becomes a sanctuary as the city explodes into violence around them. The powerful hunt the powerless through narrow medieval streets while Quasimodo faces an impossible choice that will determine not only Esmeralda's fate but his own. In Hugo's Paris, the magnificent cathedral witnesses a collision between desire and devotion that leaves no one unchanged.
Genres: classic-literature, romance, historical-fiction, adventure, fantasy, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, loyalty-conflict
Setting: Notre-Dame de Paris, Paris
Period: Medieval
591 pages · Paperback · Independently published
Content warnings: violence