The Hunchback of Notre-Dame: Victor Hugo's classic novel shoots up Amazon sales following cathedral fire

Hugo's 1831 novel tells the story of bell ringer Quasimodo

Online sales of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame are shooting up following Monday's devastating cathedral fire.

Hugo's 1831 novel, which tells the story of bell ringer Quasimodo, is one of many seminal works drawing inspiration from the eight centuries old building.

It occupied the top of Amazon's best-sellers list in France on Tuesday morning. The list, which is updated hourly, had six different editions of the novel in its top 10 at the time.

Two editions of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame occupied the first and second slots respectively. Other editions of the novel also came fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth.

On Amazon UK, Hugo's novel came 27th in fiction classics bestsellers. Another edition was in 33rd position.

In the US, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame was 20th in the list of European literature bestsellers. Other works by Hugo, such as his complete novels and Les Misérables, were also among the top 50.

In The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Hugo describes the cathedral as "a central mother church ... It has the head of one, the limbs of another, the haunches of another, something of all".

The novel went on to become a key text in French literature and is credited with helping to bring about the cathedral's reconstruction in the middle of the 19th century.

It has been adapted for film several times, including by Disney in 1996.

Additional reporting by agencies