How long does it take to read Les Misérables?
Victor Hugo · Hapgood translation
At an average reading speed of 250 words a minute, Les Misérables takes about 37 hours to read. As an audiobook, expect about 60 hours at 1x.
Les Misérables is almost exactly as long as War and Peace. Much of that length is Hugo's digressions: the Battle of Waterloo, the Paris sewers, a convent's history. Abridged editions cut them, which is why page counts vary so much.
Average is about 250 WPM. Measure yours in two minutes and every time on this page recalculates.
How much to read a day
At 250 words a minute, to finish the book:
Have a deadline in mind? The pages-per-day calculator works it out for any date.
How we measured it
Method: counted text. We used the Project Gutenberg text of Isabel Hapgood's 1887 translation (#135), the novel only. Hugo's preface, the letter printed after the novel and the translator's footnotes are excluded. Other translations differ in length.
Part of our study of the 100 most popular books, last checked October 2026. Reading times assume steady reading; editions, translations and your own pace all move them.
See how long it really takes you
Log it in Parch as you read. It tracks your pages, sessions and streak, so you'll know your real pace, and how long the next one will take.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to read Les Misérables?
About 37 hours at an average reading speed of 250 words a minute: 47 hours at 200 and 31 hours at 300.
How many words are in Les Misérables?
558,732 words.
How many pages a day to finish Les Misérables in a month?
About 68 pages a day, or 1h 15m of reading a day at an average pace. That assumes about 2,032 pages at 275 words a page; real page counts vary by edition.
Is Les Misérables longer than War and Peace?
Very slightly shorter, in these two public-domain translations: 558,732 words against 562,203. The difference is a few minutes of reading over more than 37 hours.
Should I read an abridged version?
If you want the story without the essays, an abridgment can halve the length. Check the edition says unabridged if you want everything Hugo wrote.