Why Isn’t Hugo’s Book Quoted In The Greatest Musical That Is Based On It?

“To love another is to see the face of God.”

This is a powerful and famous line from the stage production of Les Miserables. However, it is not in Victor Hugo’s book of the same name, the novel that the play is based on.

In fact, there are no lines from the 1,463-page book that are included in the amazing three-hour musical. Over 530,000 words make up the French tome. None of them appear in the play.

The book, published in 1862 while Hugo was in exile from France, is something I have wanted to read. I have seen the show 14 times, including most recently at Radio City Music Hall this past month. Every time I go, I cry and marvel with delight at how these well-worded songs are powerfully sung, piercing my heart and soul. But the book is way too long and the fact that its words are not used in the play boggles my mind and makes me wonder why.

If a book inspires a musical to be made, why wouldn’t some passages or even one sentence be quoted verbatim on stage? That would be like doing a play about President Ronald Reagan and not ever quoting things that he actually said. Is it common that a novel being turned into a movie never actually has its original words used? I think not.

The show examines poverty, religion, politics, law, and love. It shows the very best and worst of humanity. Sacrificing and suffering tend to make up a lot of the play’s key moments. There is not one song or scene that bores me. It all just comes together to result in the greatest musical of my lifetime.

The play has run for more than four decades straight in London. May the lights never go out on this masterpiece!

Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors like you to promote your story, sell your book, and grow your brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator! 

 

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 8,200,000 page views. With nearly 5,700+ posts over the past 15 years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2026, 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2026.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully) and (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/10-things-my-dog-taught-me-about-marketing-books). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, three times at BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, five times at Morgan James Publishing Red Carpet, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

You can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum

 

 

 

Interview With Author Richard Carr, Psy.D.

  

 

  

1. What inspired you to write this book? The short answer is that I heard Simon and Garfunkel’s song, The Sound of Silence (for maybe the thousandth time), and for some reason the opening lines—Hello darkness my old friend/I’ve come to talk with you again—hit me differently this time. The image of speaking to “darkness” somehow transformed, for me, into speaking to something dark within ourselves.

 

2. What exactly is it about — and who is it written for? A Stranger in Every House is about people seeking safety and anonymity in a small town, coping with events that force them to confront their personal traumas in unexpected ways and coming to the terrifying realization that the past is never as far away as they hoped, and that the truest trespasser is the one they carry inside.

 

3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book? First, I’m hoping readers get an entertaining and thought-provoking read. Second, the story portrays how quick we are to judge others’ trauma. Finally, I hope it can provide a stimulus for book club readers to debate the ways in which people come to terms with guilt and how we seek redemption.

 

4. How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design? In The Stranger, by Albert Camus, a man is judged and condemned for a murder, not based on the evidence but rather on his comportment at his mother’s funeral. A Stranger In Every House has a parallel structure running through the middle third of the story. As villager after villager is questioned about remains discovered on someone’s property, their suspected involvement seems to rise in proportion to how they behaved with respect to their own traumatic past. As such, A Stranger pays homage to The Stranger, but is also a nod to the demons people carry within. The cover design is intended to give a gloomy look at several houses on a street on a cloudy night, a kind of spooky Halloween look. 

 

5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than run!? I always tell people that writing a novel is like running a marathon—take pride in just completing it. Just as with running, the improvement comes with repeated races and the accumulated learning that takes place. In running you learn about a race day strategy, planning, training, preparing, and executing on race day. Each writing project teaches those same lessons: plot, pacing, dialogue, etc. Also, learn to take criticism. Reading is subjective; don’t take the feedback personally.

 

6. What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading? I worry about what science is finding regarding social media shortening our attention spans and a declining interest in reading overall. I do think the broadening of publishing opportunities (self, hybrid, traditional) allows for the discovery of talent that otherwise might have been missed by overwhelmed literary agents and publishers.

 

7. Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book? I’ve spent about 35 years as a clinical psychologist. I believe that experience has influenced my writing, both consciously and unconsciously, helping me to understand and, hopefully, portray how unpredictable, irrational, illogical and absurd the human condition is.

 

8. How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to? My writing tends toward psychological realism with a restrained, watchful narrative voice, more interested in what characters don’t say than what they do. I'm drawn to moral ambiguity over clear villains and victims, and to the idea that judgment often falls on comportment rather than fact, which is where Camus’s The Stranger left its mark on me directly. Beyond Camus, I'd place my influences in the broader existentialist and absurdist tradition, Kafka's sense that the world can turn on us without ever fully explaining itself, and Cortázar's comfort with ambiguity and the surreal edges of ordinary life. My clinical background probably shows up most in how I handle interiority: I'm less interested in plot twists than in the slow psychological logic of how a person arrives at a devastating choice.

 

9. What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book? The challenges for this book continue to be the challenges in any manuscript I set out to write: how do you keep people entertained through a full-length story? How to create characters that are realistic and then track their experiences and habits throughout so they are consistent. Also, how do I get myself, as author, to disappear in the storytelling in order for the reader to live the experience rather than listening to a story. The challenge is less the first draft than the editing afterwards.

 

10. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours? It should be mine because it’s a story that will resonate with anyone who’s ever been haunted by regret or self-recrimination, which is nearly everyone, and who understands how much we need connection to face it.

 

About The Author: Richard Carr, Psy.D., is a clinical psychologist whose fiction draws on decades of listening to and exploring the inner lives of others. Early in his career he published research on anxiety and stress-related disorders before turning fully to clinical practice. He later spent more than a decade with the Department of Veterans Affairs, working with veterans coping with trauma, depression, and the lingering effects of combat. In more recent years he has worked in rehabilitation and skilled nursing settings, supporting patients and families facing serious illness and end-of-life decisions. These experiences inform his literary fiction, which often examines moral conflict, identity, and the quiet psychological tensions that shape ordinary lives. Carr lives with his wife in Huntington, on Long Island.  

Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors like you to promote your story, sell your book, and grow your brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator! 

 

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 8,200,000 page views. With nearly 5,700+ posts over the past 15 years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2026, 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2026.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully) and (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/10-things-my-dog-taught-me-about-marketing-books). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, three times at BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, five times at Morgan James Publishing Red Carpet, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

You can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum

 

 

 

How Can Authors Work Their Network?

  

Do you know 10 people? Do each of them know 10 people? Well, then you have a connection to 100 people. Chances are you know more than 10 individuals, and they each likely know more than 10 apiece.  You probably have access to a few hundred, even a few thousand people.  

Ok, so how do you create and harvest a network that can be utilized to sell more books? In other words, who do you know who can do something for you and how do you get them to do something for you? 

Who do you know?  

Make a list of everyone you know. Leave no one out. Start with family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, alumni, house of worship, leagues, clubs, trade associations, condo boards, sorority sisters, charities affiliated with, friendly shop owners and workers, parents of your kids’ friends, and anyone you interact with. 

Who do they know? 

·         Book-Buying Consumers

·         Book stores

·         Libraries

·         Social media

·         News media

·         Influencers

·         Book clubs

·         Speaking opportunities

 

What do they do or know? You can ask for: 

·         Ideas

·         Information

·         Introductions

·         Lists/Resources

·         Favors

·         Book sales

·         Reviews

 

What will incentivize them? 

·         Beg

·         Trade

·         Guilt/Fear

·         Hope/Values Alignment

·         Pride

·         Bonus Reward or Pay

 

This only works if you: 

·         Believe it will

·         Try hard in a consistent manner

·         Act opportunistically and take the initiative

·         Make a great list of connections

·         Reach out to them personally

·         Follow-up with them

·         Keep good notes 

I know, I know. You may say you live in a small town, you are retired, your family is not big or close, and you have few friends. I have two answers: 1. So what? Work whomever you know and their connections. 2. Expand your circle and start reaching out to strangers.  

The way to succeed is to utilize the efforts, resources, skills, knowledge, or connections of others. Open your mouth, extend your hand, smile, and talk it up! 

Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors like you to promote your story, sell your book, and grow your brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator! 

 

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 8,600,000 page views. With nearly 5,700+ posts over the past 15 years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2026, 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2026.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully) and (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/10-things-my-dog-taught-me-about-marketing-books). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, three times at BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, five times at Morgan James Publishing Red Carpet, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

You can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum

 

 

 

Releasing A New Generation Into The Wild

 

Dropping off my youngest at college this past weekend felt a little surreal. I kept thinking about all of the summer camp drop-offs, mostly for French Woods, where my wife and I would drive her from Westchester to a street corner near Lincoln Center in the city. A bus would then take her to camp. She would have a heavy body bag’s worth of clothes, stuffed animals, and a few books. There would also be some Ikea plastic thing with draws and a shopping bag of miscellaneous things that fill up the world of a tween and teen.

This time we had a car load of a young adult’s life, but it was not so different than what she used to take, including that body bag of goodies. There were some new additions: lipstick, jewelry, and a laptop. She still had her tap shoes and squishy pillow dolls, but her books have mature themes and her collection of cut-off shirts accommodate her newly pierced belly button ring.

Our daughter seemed to go from being a kid to a young woman along the 386-mile car ride. She left home having just finished up her summer job as a lifeguard for the day camp she used to attend as a little girl. Next week she will start taking the classes that count towards graduating a school that could lead to a job and career. It all happens so fast.

I remember when my first child was born and a number of people advised that we soak up every day because they get big too fast. I took the advice to heart — and they are right. Every day is a gift, even when you feel the urge to scream over their behavior or sulk over the inconvenience and cost of placing your needs and desires way behind those of these little monsters.

Before my wife and I took off from her campus, I handed her a folder of 10 laminated pages of advice and Dad wisdom. I think she is aware of each of my dozens of encouraging tips and lived insights, as I always have dished them out or demonstrated with my behavior, hoping by osmosis that she will absorb some of them. But now she has it in her hands, to refer to if needed.

She will live her own truth and will need to follow her heart, make her mistakes, and find what makes her happy. Hopefully, I gave her a framework of encouragement and support for her to discover who she truly is. One day she may hand over my notes to her child, or even better, she will revise them to reflect what she knows of this evolving world at that time.

I am excited for her and am jealous of her campus environment. We need to turn our neighborhoods into campuses, where people freely socialize, exchange ideas, and expose themselves to learning something every day. I love the curiosity, energy, and beauty of the youth. They are emerging but not yet fully formed. They are open to many things and as much as they learn of “how things are done” they also are the class of people to reinvent “how things are done.” New traditions and styles await society.

And I await the return visit home of my daughter, eager to look for signs of change — or to be reminded of who she always has been. 

Marketing Help?

Brian Feinblum can be reached at brianfeinblum@gmail.com  He is available to help authors like you to promote your story, sell your book, and grow your brand. He has over 30 years of experience in successfully helping thousands of authors in all genres. Let him be your advocate, teacher, and motivator! 

 

About Brian Feinblum

This award-winning blog has generated over 8,600,000 page views. With nearly 5,700+ posts over the past 15 years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2026, 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.”  Copyright 2026.

 

For the past three decades, Brian Feinblum has helped thousands of authors. He formed his own book publicity firm in 2020. Prior to that, for 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and as the director of publicity at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler.

 

His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/whats-needed-to-promote-a-book-successfully) and (https://pubspot.ibpa-online.org/article/10-things-my-dog-taught-me-about-marketing-books). He was recently interviewed by the IBPA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0BhO9m8jbs

 

He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, three times at BookCAMP, Independent Book Publishers Association, Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, five times at Morgan James Publishing Red Carpet, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. He served as a judge for the 2024 IBPA Book Awards.

 

His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog.

 

You can connect with him at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum/ or https://www.facebook.com/brian.feinblum