2025 Online Reading Group

Join us for some summer reading!

Through eight weeks this summer, we will gather to discuss the book Les Misérables. Please see below for essential details and complete the registration form below to sign up.

We look forward to seeing you there!

What is the LGW “Reading Group”?

Our reading group is part book club, part support group. Similar to a book club, we will be reading a book on a fixed schedule and meeting together to share our thoughts. However, rather than analyzing writing style and political context, we will strive to continue our healing journey by relating to certain characters and themes that are pertinent to our experience as adult children of divorce.

One of the main characters - Cosette (pictured above) - is a child of separated parents. We will follow her story and share with each other how we see ourselves in her or how our experience is different. There are also strong themes of abandonment, redemption, providence, fatherhood, and marriage.

Which version to read:

There are many translations and versions of this book. If you have read the book before and already have a copy that you like, please feel free to use that version! Even if is is unabridged, you likely know the parts you can skip or skim.

On the other hand, if you have not yet read this book and are not sure of which version to purchase, we suggest the following: The Barnes & Noble Classics version edited and abridged, with an introduction and notes by Laurence M. Porter. This version is available for free online here.

Weekly reading assignments and meeting lengths:

This reading group will meet on Zoom over eight consecutive Tuesday evenings from June 24 to August 12. Each week, the assignment (if you are using the suggested abridged version) is about 100 pages/ two-and-a-half hours of reading. If that seems like too much, don’t worry! We will soon post a study guide here which will help you know what to focus on in each week’s reading assignment. Please don’t be intimidated by the length of the book.

Each week’s meeting will last one hour: 8:15 - 9:15 pm EDT. We will start each meeting with an opening prayer, Alex Wolfe will give a short synthesis of that week’s reading, and then we will break out into small groups for discussion and sharing. 

Below are the reading assignments.

  • June 24: from Part I, Book I, An Upright Man, through Part I, Book IV, To Entrust is Sometimes to Abandon.

  • July 1: from Part I, Book V, The Descent, to the end of Part I.

  • July 8: from Part II, Book I, Waterloo, through Part II, Book V, A Sinister Hunt Requires a Silent Pack

  • July 15: from Part II, Book VIII, Cemeteries Take What is Given Them, through Part III, Book V, The Excellence of Misfortune.

  • July 22: from Part III, Book VI, The Conjunction of Two Stars, to the end of Part III.

  • July 29: from Part IV, Book I, A Few Pages of History, through Part IV, Book VIII, Enchantment and Despair.

  • August 5: from Part IV, Book IX, Where Are They Going? through Part V, Book I, War Between Four Walls.

  • August 12: from Part V, Book III, Mire, but Soul, to the end of Part V.

 

Study Guide

A Study Guide will be available for download soon.

Cost:

$50 early bird price through June 14; $65 regular, through June 24


Important note: Once you complete the form below, you will then need to hit the “Next purchase ticket and add-ons” button to select the appropriate ticket and check out. Your registration is not finalized unless you complete the full checkout process.