The Man Who Laughs: A Romance of English History
By Victor Hugo
Length23h 7m
About this audiobook
A haunting and surreal journey into the life of a man whose face was carved into a permanent mask of laughter for the amusement of the rich. Gwynplaine’s struggle to find his voice in a world of grotesque inequality is both a romantic tragedy and a fierce social critique. It is a dark, atmospheric exploration of what it means to be truly seen.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.2 (18.6K)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, StoryGraph, LibraryThing
GenreLiterary Classics, Historical Fiction, General Fiction
Length23 hrs 7 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateFeb 23, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1THE LAUGHING MAN.
2A ROMANCE OF ENGLISH HISTORY.
3PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
4URSUS.
5I.
Show all chaptersShow less
6II.
7III.
8IV.
9ANOTHER PRELIMINARY CHAPTER.
10THE COMPRACHICOS.
11I.
12II.
13III.
14IV.
15V.
16VI.
17PART I.
18BOOK THE FIRST.
19CHAPTER I.: PORTLAND BILL.
20CHAPTER II.: LEFT ALONE.
21CHAPTER III.: ALONE.
22CHAPTER IV.: QUESTIONS.
23CHAPTER V.: THE TREE OF HUMAN INVENTION.
24CHAPTER VI.: STRUGGLE BETWEEN DEATH AND LIFE.
25CHAPTER VII.: THE NORTH POINT OF PORTLAND.
26BOOK THE SECOND.
27CHAPTER I.: SUPERHUMAN LAWS.
28CHAPTER II.: OUR FIRST ROUGH SKETCHES FILLED IN.
29CHAPTER III.: TROUBLED MEN ON THE TROUBLED SEA.
30CHAPTER IV.: A CLOUD DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS ENTERS ON THE SCENE.
31CHAPTER V.: HARDQUANONNE.
32CHAPTER VI.: THEY THINK THAT HELP IS AT HAND.
33CHAPTER VII.: SUPERHUMAN HORRORS.
34CHAPTER VIII.: NIX ET NOX.
35CHAPTER IX.: THE CHARGE CONFIDED TO A RAGING SEA.
36CHAPTER X.: THE COLOSSAL SAVAGE, THE STORM.
37CHAPTER XI.: THE CASKETS.
38CHAPTER XII.: FACE TO FACE WITH THE ROCK.
39CHAPTER XIII.: FACE TO FACE WITH NIGHT.
40CHAPTER XIV.: ORTACH.
41CHAPTER XV.: PORTENTOSUM MARE.
42CHAPTER XVI.: THE PROBLEM SUDDENLY WORKS IN SILENCE.
43CHAPTER XVII.: THE LAST RESOURCE.
44CHAPTER XVIII.: THE HIGHEST RESOURCE.
45BOOK THE THIRD.
46CHAPTER I.: CHESIL.
47CHAPTER II.: THE EFFECT OF SNOW.
48CHAPTER III.: A BURDEN MAKES A ROUGH ROAD ROUGHER.
49CHAPTER IV.: ANOTHER FORM OF DESERT.
50CHAPTER V.: MISANTHROPY PLAYS ITS PRANKS.
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