Zola dramatically shaped the course of literature through the development of naturalism, characterized by the unsentimental and realistic portrayal of class in French society. His twenty novel cycle "Les Rougon-Macquart" is epic in scope, often drawing comparisons to the prolific output of Balzac. Here in the fourth installment of that epic collection we find "The Conquest of Plassans," which centers on the fictional Provencal town of Plassans. The generally pleasant lives of the townspeople are disrupted when the strange and sinister cleric Abbé Faujas comes to town. As the story unravels it becomes evident that the cleric has arrived to try and win influence in the town for outside political forces. Through a series of intrigues, plots, slanders and insinuations, Faujas begins to unravel the otherwise harmonious community. No family is more impacted by the cleric's machinations than that of Francois Mouret.
