The best classic French books for learners, by level

French has one of the richest stocks of public-domain books in any language, and a lot of it is more readable than its reputation. This list sorts the classics by how hard the French is, so you can find one you'll finish.

Every book here is in the Passage library. Levels are the ones Passage uses, and word counts are for the Passage edition, rounded.

One thing to know first: the passé simple

Nearly every French novel on this list tells its story in the passé simple, a past tense that most courses barely teach because people don't use it in speech. You don't need to produce it, only recognize it. It looks like this, in the first line of Le Grand Meaulnes:

Arriva is the passé simple of arriver; in conversation you'd say il est arrivé. After a chapter or two your eye stops snagging on it.

Beginner: your first French book

• Contes de PerraultCharles Perrault · 1697 · about 20,000 wordsBeginner

  The original Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Puss in Boots and Bluebeard. You know the plots, so you can focus on the language. A few old forms, but short sentences.

• Poil de CarotteJules Renard · 1894 · about 33,000 wordsBeginner

  Short scenes from the childhood of a red-haired boy and his cold, sarcastic mother. Each chapter is a few pages, mostly dialogue, often funny and sometimes sad.

• La Symphonie pastoraleAndré Gide · 1919 · about 20,000 wordsBeginner

  A Swiss pastor takes in a blind orphan girl and teaches her about the world. Written as a diary, in clear, careful French.

• Lettres de mon moulinAlphonse Daudet · 1869 · about 45,000 wordsBeginner

  Stories from Provence, told from an old windmill, including the famous “La Chèvre de monsieur Seguin”. Each story is short and stands alone.

• Mémoires d'un âneComtesse de Ségur · 1860 · about 51,000 wordsBeginner

  A clever, slightly vain donkey tells his life story. The Comtesse de Ségur wrote for children, and her French is simple and lively; Les Malheurs de Sophie is another good pick.

Here's how Poil de Carotte opens. Notice the inverted dit madame Lepic (“says Madame Lepic”) in the middle of the line, a pattern you'll see in every French novel:

Intermediate: fast and fun

• CarmenProsper Mérimée · 1845 · about 21,000 wordsIntermediate

  The novella behind Bizet's opera: a soldier, a woman who won't be owned, and a story that ends badly. Short and tightly told.

• Tartarin de TarasconAlphonse Daudet · 1872 · about 28,000 wordsIntermediate

  A small-town boaster from the south of France sets off to hunt lions in Algeria. A comic novel, short chapters.

• Le Dernier Jour d'un condamnéVictor Hugo · 1829 · about 35,000 wordsIntermediate

  A man sentenced to death narrates his last weeks. Hugo at his most direct, and a good way to read him before Les Misérables.

• La Mare au diableGeorge Sand · 1846 · about 37,000 wordsIntermediate

  A widowed farmer sets out to meet a new wife and ends up lost in the woods with a young shepherdess. A short country love story.

• Arsène Lupin contre Herlock SholmèsMaurice Leblanc · 1908 · about 44,000 wordsIntermediate

  The gentleman thief takes on a thinly disguised Sherlock Holmes. Lots of dialogue and plot, little description.

• Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts joursJules Verne · 1872Intermediate

  Phileas Fogg bets he can go around the world in 80 days. Verne's French is clear and practical, and every chapter ends with a reason to read the next. Voyage au centre de la Terre is similar.

• Le Grand MeaulnesAlain-Fournier · 1913 · about 63,000 wordsIntermediate

  A schoolboy in rural France and his restless friend, who stumbles on a strange party at a lost estate and can't find his way back. Dreamy, but the language is plain.

• Une vieGuy de Maupassant · 1883 · about 73,000 wordsIntermediate

  A young Norman woman's hopes for marriage, and what happens to them. Maupassant writes in short, exact sentences; Bel-Ami is the longer, nastier follow-up to try next.

Advanced: the big novels

• Candide, ou l'OptimismeVoltaire · 1759 · about 31,000 wordsAdvanced

  A naïve young man is thrown out into a cruel world and keeps believing all is for the best. Short, but 18th-century French and dense with irony.

• Madame BovaryGustave Flaubert · 1857Advanced

  A doctor's wife in Normandy, bored by her life and her husband. Every sentence is worked over, which makes it slow going and very rewarding.

• Le Père GoriotHonoré de Balzac · 1835 · about 93,000 wordsAdvanced

  A Paris boarding house, an old man ruined by love for his daughters, and an ambitious student. Balzac's long opening descriptions are the hardest part; it speeds up.

• Les Misérables, tome I : FantineVictor Hugo · 1862 · about 109,000 wordsAdvanced

  The first of five parts. Hugo spends a long opening section on a kindly bishop before Jean Valjean appears; push through and the story takes over.

• GerminalÉmile Zola · 1885 · about 164,000 wordsAdvanced

  A miners' strike in northern France. Lots of mining and working-class vocabulary, and one of the most powerful novels in the language.

• Du côté de chez SwannMarcel Proust · 1913 · about 166,000 wordsAdvanced

  The first volume of À la recherche du temps perdu. Sentences that run for half a page. Save it for last, and read it slowly.

A reading path

1. Contes de Perrault
2. Poil de Carotte or Mémoires d'un âne
3. Lettres de mon moulin
4. Carmen or Tartarin de Tarascon
5. A Jules Verne or an Arsène Lupin
6. Le Grand Meaulnes or Une vie
7. Madame Bovary, Germinal or Les Misérables

Check each one with the page test before you commit.

Tips for reading French classics

• Learn to spot the passé simple (see above). It's the single biggest difference between textbook French and novel French.
• Read the dialogue dashes. Older French books mark speech with a dash (—) or «guillemets», and a new speaker often starts without a name.
• Don't translate on as “one”. It usually means “we” or “people”.
• Expect vous between family members in older books. Children often use vous with their parents.

Questions