We enter this new “book” with the expectation (at least I had the expectation) that we will immediately jump into solving this mystery - who is this other man everyone is saying is Jean Valjean?
Instead, Hugo starts talking to us about nuns, and the two very different types of nuns that were represented by Sister Perpetua and Sister Simplice. Perpetua is described as a career nun of sorts - someone who entered this life as an occupation, much like any other occupation a person might choose. Simplice on the other hand is what I would call a “vocational nun”. She didn’t choose the nun life, it chose her! She was born for it, and took it very serious. At her core, she was a person who appears to be a kindred spirit to our beloved Bishop Myriel in that she seems to be purely focused on loving and caring for others.
In the case of Simplice, her defining virtue is her truthfulness. Hugo goes to great lengths to make sure we understand this - even to the point of making up a back story for her involving a famous (but non-existent in reality) nun also named Sister Simplice who had her breasts torn off when she refused to lie about being from Segesta instead of Syracuse.
Hugo just drops this on us, but the footnote makes it clear there is no record of a woman like this. I guess we really need to know she doesn’t lie, and she chose a name to reflect it. Way to sell the point I guess?!
This random story reminded me of some interactions I’ve had with older relatives who just drop the most unbelievable stories in the middle of a conversation and just keep rolling on like it didn’t happen. “You know, Simplice - my friend who had her breasts torn off when she refused to tell a lie. Anyway, I was telling you about my trip to Costco…” That’s the vibe here, and even though part of me reacts with the general sentiment that Hugo desperately needed an editor, another part of me thinks “wait, just let him cook!”