The Ladies' Delight (1883) is a novel by French author Émile Zola. The
eleventh 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. At the
age of twenty, Denise Baudu moves to Paris with her brothers and finds
work at "Au Bonheur des Dames," a new department store owned by
eccentric entrepreneur Octave Mouret. There, she grows accustomed to
13-hour days, inferior food and housing, and the constant grind of
thankless labor. Despite her circumstances, she soon finds herself
attracted to Mouret, a notorious womanizer whose exploitative business
practices have alienated him from employees and local businesspeople.
Mouret's ambition and innovation have led him to corner the market on
textiles, womenswear, furniture, and household goods, infuriating his
competitors and driving smaller shops into bankruptcy. Until Denise, he
has avoided tying himself down to another, intent on building a fortune
for himself without the interference of family. Innocent at first, she
soon learns how to manipulate Octave to do her bidding. The Ladies'
Delight is a story of family and fate, a thrilling and detailed novel
that continues a series rich enough for its author to explore in twenty
total volumes. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally
typeset manuscript, this edition of Émile Zola's The Ladies' Delight
is a classic work of French literature reimagined for modern readers.
