Florent, wrongly deported after the coup of 1851, escapes and comes back half-starved to Paris, where his brother runs a prosperous pork shop beside the great Central Markets of Les Halles. Among fishwives, butchers and gossiping stallholders who prize comfort above all, the thin idealist drifts into political plotting while the fat world around him watches.
The third of Zola’s Rougon-Macquart novels, Le Ventre de Paris, a feast of description. Download the free EPUB.