Jean Valjean
Interestingly, the novel also contains a blueprint of Jean Valjean, the hero of Hugo's "Les Miserables". As the Condemned is waiting to be executed he meets another condemned man who recounts his life story. The man tells him that he has was originally sent to prison for stealing a loaf of bread to save his sister's family. This, of course, is the same backstory that Hugo gives for Jean Valjean.