It is, in some respects, the most powerful of all Zola's
novels, but in dealing with the subject he unfortunately thought it
necessary to introduce incidents and expressions which, from their
nature, must always render it impossible to submit the book in its
entirety to the general English reader.
Its connection with the Rougon-Macquart series is somewhat slight. Jean
Macquart, son of Antoine Macquart and brother of Gervaise (_La Fortune
des Rougon_), having served his time in the Army, came to the plain
of La Beauce, and became an agricultural labourer on the farm of La
Borderie, which belonged to Alexandre Hourdequin. He fell in love with
Lise Mouche, who, however, married Buteau, and Macquart subsequently
married her sister Francoise. Constant quarrels now arose between the
two sisters as to the division of their father's property, and in
the end Francoise was murdered by her sister. Macquart, tired of the
struggle, decided to rejoin the army, which he did immediately after the
outbreak of war.
The interest of the book is, however, largely connected with the history
of the Fouans, a family of peasants, the senior member of which, having
grown old, divided his land among his three children.
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