Top Recommendations for Free French E-Books
French is a beautiful and romantic language that many want to learn. In the past, this would require breaking down and paying for an expensive french course - but now with the help of free ebooks, you can learn the french language without any money or time commitment! Project Gutenberg is a free website that provides over 20,000 free e-books in the French language. If you have already have taken French courses or have learned French on your own, I highly recommend checking out the titles they offer.
Maurice Leblanc
Maurice Leblanc’s Arsène Lupin is one of the most iconic detectives in all of literature. Leblanc was born in 1864 and died in 1941, but his writing has remained timeless. Lupin is a gentleman-thief who solves mysteries with intelligence and wit for his own amusement, not to reform society.
Alexandre Dumas
Le comte de Monte-Cristo is a great book that was written in 1844. It is about Edmond Dantès, who was betrayed by his friends and falsely imprisoned for 14 years before he finally escapes. He then seeks revenge on those who wronged him, but not without learning many lessons of justice, morality, and humility along the way.
Marcel Proust
Du côté de chez Swann is a semi-autobiographical novel by French author Marcel Proust. This book is about the time of the narrator’s adolescence. It describes his experiences with love, family, memory, addiction, and society in general. The novel was originally published in seven parts between 1913 and 1919.
Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables is a novel that tells the story of Jean Valjean, who has spent 19 years in prison for stealing bread to feed his sister’s starving family. This novel, about redemption, is considered one of the most important works of French literature.
Charles Baudelaire
In 1857, Charles Baudelaire published his collection of poems titled Les Fleurs du Mal, which translates to “the flowers of evil.” With bitter irony, that title is a humorous reference to the beauty and fragility of nature. Baudelaire himself called it “a sombre bouquet.”
Guillaume de Lorris
Le roman de la rose is the first volume of the Romance of the Rose, one of the most famous medieval French texts. The book was written by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun. It was originally composed in 1275. The story begins with an allegorical dream representing love as an endangered lady, besieged by sowers of discord, symbolizing envy and other sins. There are three different plots which follow this dream: “La Vie antérieure”, “Le Couronnement de la Rose” and “Le Roman de la Rose”.
Choderlos de Laclos
One of the most captivating classics, Les Liaisons Dangereuses is a masterpiece in which readers can enjoy the rivalry between Valmont and Merteuil. The novel is about their game, which involves seducing people for money, power or revenge. It has been adapted into other media numerous times.
Gustave Flaubert
Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary is a novel that depicts the life of a provincial woman. The protagonist is a young country girl who marries a city man and moves to his town. She gets married, and has children, but her life becomes a disappointment. It is finally revealed that she is unhappy because she cannot find happiness in marriage despite being very good at it on the surface.
Octave Mirbeau
Octave Mirbeau is a French writer and journalist. He was born in 1848 and died in 1917. He was a socialist revolutionary who wrote about the working class, socialism, and pacifism. His most widely read work is Le jardin des supplices, which means “The Garden of Punishment.”
Jean de La Fontaine
Jean de La Fontaine, The Master of Fables, was a 17th-century French author and poet. He is the earliest known European writer to collect fairy tales and fables in a volume called Fables de La Fontaine, and was one of the most popular such authors of his day.
I hope you have found a book that is interesting and at your level. There are more books available on Project Gutenberg so take a look. If none of the books listed here interest you take a look at the Similar Books section included on the linked page for each book listed here. Keep in mind that because it is all free of charge, it is free of risk!