Émile Zola

The Ladies' Paradise: a Realistic Novel Émile Zola

The Ladies Paradise, originally "Au Bonheur des Dames," is the eleventh novel of the famous Rougon-Macquart (1871-1893) series of twenty novels written by Émile Zola. It tells a rags-to-riches story about Denise Baudu, a poor young girl from the provinces, and Octave Mouret, the wealthy owner of the department store where Denise comes to work. The rise of the modern department store in late nineteenth-century Paris, the store as a symbol of capitalism of the modern city, and the bourgeois revolution tell us a fascinating story of love and ambition, while depicting a rich texture of Parisian society. Part of the project Immortal Literature Series of classic literature, this is a new edition of the classic work published in 1886 - not a facsimile reprint. Obvious typographical errors have been carefully corrected and the entire text has been reset and redesigned to enhance readability.