Zola (1840-1902) was a French novelist, playwright, journalist and the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism. This novel, first published in the original French in 1883, is part of his celebrated series Les Rougon-Macquart which gives a panoramic account of the Second French Empire. Reprinted from an English translation of 1895 with an introduction by E. A. Vizitelly.