Le Dernier Jour d'un condamné

This short novel by Victor Hugo is the diary of a man waiting to be executed. He is never named and his crime is barely mentioned. Instead, Hugo records the prisoner's thoughts in his last six weeks: the cell, the guards, the visits to the priest, the jeers of onlookers on the day of the guillotine, memories of his daughter Marie, and the terror of knowing the exact date of his death. It was written as an argument against the death penalty.

Readers interested in the history of the abolitionist debate or in French Romantic fiction will find an intense and uncomplicated text. It takes an hour or two to read, and by keeping the crime out of view it forces you to think about what the state does when it kills.

Deep, inward-looking, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.

Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?