The Fortune of the Rougons (1871) is a novel by French author Émile
Zola. The first of twenty volumes of Zola's monumental Les
Rougon-Macquart series is an epic story of family, politics, class, and
history that traces the disparate paths of several French citizens
raised by the same mother. Spanning the entirety of the French Second
Empire, Zola provides a sweeping portrait of change that refuses to shy
away from controversy and truth as it gets to the heart of heredity and
human nature. Adelaide Fouque is a woman of Plassans, a town in southern
France. Alongside her son Pierre Rougon, whose deceased father was her
husband, Adelaide raises the Macquart siblings, her children from a
brief, passionate affair. Despite their shared upbringing, the three
children take vastly diverging paths in life. Pierre, desperate to prove
his legitimacy, becomes an ambitious middle-class man whose deepest
desire is to win favor with the aristocracy and to climb even further
from his humble roots. Meanwhile, his half siblings struggle to make a
living for themselves and their working-class families. As Pierre's
ambitions lead him to not only disinherit the Macquarts, but to position
himself as a supporter of Napoleon III in his attempt to overthrow the
French government. At the same time, Silvère Mouret, Adelaide's
grandson, and his lover Miette Chantegreil find themselves on the side
of the republicans who attempt to resist Napoleon's coup. The Fortune
of the Rougons is a story of family and fate, a thrilling and detailed
novel that sets up a world rich enough for its author to explore in
nineteen subsequent volumes. With a beautifully designed cover and
professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Émile Zola's The
Fortune of the Rougons is a classic work of French literature
reimagined for modern readers.
