Dark passions and unrequited love are featured in Victor Hugo's romantic book.Victor Hugo's potent novel of "imagination, caprice, and fancy," which is set in 1482, is both a captivating reproduction of the mediaeval world at the start of the modern era and a meditation on love, fate, architecture, and politics.Hugo's brilliant retelling of the story of Beauty and the Beast introduces a cast of unforgettable characters, including Clopin Trouillefou, the ruler of the beggars, and Louis XI, King of France, as well as the title character Quasimodo, the hunchback who is hopelessly in love with the gypsy girl Esmeralda. The Notre-Dame Cathedral hangs over the entire book, both literally and figuratively.