The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

This imaginative retelling of Victor Hugo’s 19th-century classic is
true to the French novelist’s innovative mix of comedy and tragedy and
to the romantic spirit that dominated his work. The story is set in
medieval Paris and centred on the great Notre Dame Cathedral; its main
characters are gypsy dancer Esmeralda, grossly deformed bell-ringer
Quasimodo, and an evil cleric whose lies and passion for Esmeralda bring
her to the edge of the gallows.

In Hugo’s story, Esmeralda dies; but in Wynne-Jones’s version she
is rescued by the hunchback and restored to her long-lost half-mad
mother. Heartbroken, Quasimodo returns to the bells of the cathedral,
the only mother he knows and the only place where he is not taunted and
despised.

Wynne-Jones has written 15 young-adult and children’s titles,
including The Maestro, which won him a Governor General’s Award in
1995. Bill Slavin has illustrated more than 29 children’s books. Here,
his wonderfully imaginative scenes evoke the gothic horrors and
cruelties of this medieval world, and all the desperate longing and pain
of the hunchback whom Esmeralda can never love.

Both story and illustrations are strong meat for youngsters, but The
Hunchback is fantasy with heroism, pathos, and the flavor of truth.
Highly recommended.