The Fortune of the Rougons - Émile Zola (1871) Summary (Les Rougon-Macquart - 1)

Celsius 233 Book Summaries Podcast · Dec 18, 2025 · 6m

Book 286: The Fortune of the Rougons - Émile Zola (1871)

Series: Les Rougon-Macquart - 1

Rating: 3.9 ⭐️

Book at a glance: The Fortune of the Rougons (1871) by Émile Zola is the first novel in the Rougon-Macquart series, which explores the lives and fortunes of a family across twenty volumes. Set during the early years of the Second Empire in France, the novel examines the origins of two branches of the Rougon-Macquart family, focusing on the political turmoil of 1851, specifically Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte’s coup d'état. Zola uses this story to introduce the main themes of heredity, class, and…