Cosette

Cosette Pontmercy
Les Misérables character
Illustration of Cosette in the Thénardiers' inn at Montfermeil depicted by Émile Bayard (1837–1891).
Created by	Victor Hugo
In-universe information
Full name	Euphrasie
Alias	Ursule or Ursula the Lark Mademoiselle Lanoire or Lenoire Madame Pontmercy Cosette Fauchelevent
Nickname	Cosette, Alouette
Gender	Female
Family	Fantine (mother) Jean Valjean (surrogate father) Félix Tholomyès (biological father)
Spouse	Marius Pontmercy
Relatives	Georges Pontmercy (father-in-law) Monsieur Gillenormand (grandfather-in-law)
Religion	Roman Catholic
Nationality	French
Born	1815

Cosette (French pronunciation: [kɔzɛt]) is a fictional character in the 1862 novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo and in the many adaptations of the story for stage, film, and television. Her birth name, Euphrasie, is only mentioned briefly. As the orphaned child of an unmarried mother deserted by her father, Hugo never gives her a surname. In the course of the novel, she is mistakenly identified as Ursule, Lark, or Mademoiselle Lanoire.

She is the daughter of Fantine, a working woman who leaves her to be looked after by the Thénardiers, who exploit and victimise her. Rescued by Jean Valjean, who raises Cosette as if she were his own, she grows up in a convent school. She falls in love with Marius Pontmercy, a young lawyer. Valjean's struggle to protect her while disguising his past drives much of the plot until he recognizes "that this child had a right to know life before renouncing it"^[1]—and he must allow her romantic attachment to Marius to blossom.