The ladies' paradise

 
The Ladies' Paradise (Au Bonheur des Dames) recounts the spectacular development of the modern department store in late nineteenth-century Paris. The store is a symbol of capitalism, of the modern city, and of the bourgeois family; it is emblematic of consumer culture and the changes in sexual attitudes and class relations taking place at the end of the century. This new translation of the eleventh book in the Rougon-Macquart cycle captures the spirit of one of Zola's greatest works.