The Kill

Émile Zola · 1840–1902 · France

Originally La Curée (French)

Why it matters

A property speculator's wife drifts into an affair with her own stepson while Haussmann's Paris is demolished and rebuilt for profit around them: Zola's early Rougon-Macquart portrait of Second Empire greed, incest, and real estate as appetite.

At a glance

Lush, decadent prose and a large Second Empire social cast.