Abandoned by her fake lover while pregnant, she is forced to return to her hometown. She entrusts her child (Cosette) to the devious Thénardier couple, who run an inn. However, due to crushing debt and moral hypocrisy, she is fired from her job in her hometown; over time, she sells her hair and teeth to barbers to pay for her daughter's fabricated medical expenses, and eventually descends into prostitution, practically selling her flesh and bones. While she finds a glimmer of hope when the kind-hearted mayor reaches out to her as she walks toward death from the tuberculosis consuming her body, she dies on her deathbed without ever reuniting with her daughter.
