I don't agree with you but i am a little tired with this discussion. Your point of view about litterature is completely different from mine.
Quote
Our task is to over the summer holiday write a book from either the romantic period or the realistic period. Any book at all. And the work isn't about the books, it's about the era. What is typical for the romantic/realistic period?
If you can choose any book, forget "Les Misérables" and do your school work about a novel you like. You should read several novels and then you would choose the better one for doing your work.