chapter: prologue

In the years following the end of the French Revolution, a large number of Frenchmen fled the country in hope for solace abroad. Quite a few emigrated to Germany, Sweden, and some even went as far as crossing the Atlantic to the newly established United States of America. The Thenardiers, however, chose to travel to Britain to start anew in the year seventeen hundred ninety three.

Mr. Thenardier's maternal grandfather, a man that went by Mr. Bennet and resided in Hertfordshire, was ecstatic at the arrival of the young couple. His only kin left in all of Britain was a distant grandchild of sorts; an odd young boy named William Collins. The coming of Mr. Thenardier, whose mother was insistent on never returning to Britain before her tragic death during the Revolution, meant that all of his property could be left to someone not quite obsessed with the wretched Lady Catherine.

Mr. Bennet was an old man at the age of four and sixty, but he dedicated his life to ensuring the wellbeing of his estate. There was a small amount of distress running throughout Longbourn seeing as he was left with the duty of raising the child of his late housekeeper, a French woman named Fantine who died during childbirth. Fantine was the only worker with enough audacity to talk to him, so he could not bring himself to leave her child at the orphanage. She left behind a girl that was referred to as Cosette despite the fact that her Christian name was Catherine. Luckily, Cosette's birth coincided with the coming of the Thenardiers, so the family decided to adopt her as their own to avoid scandal.

When Cosette was two, Mrs. Thenardier saw the birth of her first child in May of seventeen hundred ninety five. She was given the Christian name Eleanor, but was mostly called Eponine around the estate. Not even a half year after Eponine's birth, Mr. Bennet contracted what the local doctor diagnosed as pneumonia. Mr. Thenardier travelled to London and fell into a bad crowd during that time as he tried to scrounge up money to cover their bill with the apothecary.

However, the attempts were fruitless as those men were slowly killed off without making any profit, and Mr. Bennet eventually passed away in the spring of seventeen hundred ninety six.

The transfer of the ownership of Longbourn to Mr. Thenardier went without any troubles, and the family of four lived a humble life. They made a modest income from their small amount of farmland.

Over the next twenty years, the Thenardiers welcome in a startling four more children. Alice, or Azelma, is born not even two years after Eponine, but their brother is not born until Eponine is eight. George, or Gavroche, is a rambunctious child that takes on the role of leader when his twin younger brothers, Jacob and Phillip, are born when he is four.

With the birth of Gavroche, the worry of the future of their estate was officially off their the year of eighteen hundred and fifteen, when Cosette is two and twenty and Eponine is twenty years of age, Mr. Thenardier takes to spending most of his time in the library as he is moving on in age and his daughters are old enough to aid in the care of the boys. Cosette and Eponine, however, are not as lucky with Mrs. Thenardier, who takes this newly found free time to pester her oldest daughters with talks on the need of a husband.

She is especially enthusiastic with the topic when rumors spread through Hertfordshire of arrival of the new proprietor of Netherfield Park and his company; a young man named Marius Pontmercy, his two sisters and brother-in law, and an extremely wealthy Gabriel Enjolras.

a/n: Should I continue? I dunno~ TTwTT Please Read & Leave your thoughts!