 In 2007, 55 bodies were retrieved from its waters; in February 2008, the body of supermodel-turned-activist Katoucha Niane was found there.The Seine was the river that Javert, the primary antagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel "Les Misérables", drowned himself in.In Ludwig Bemelmans' 1953 children's book "Madeline's Rescue" and the 1998 live-action adaptation of Madeline, Madeline accidentally falls into the Seine after standing on the ledge of a bridge.