Recently adapted for BBC1's lavish production The Paradise

Encapsulating, with luxurious detail, the phenomenon of consumer society‚ obsessed with image, fashion and instant gratification‚ Ladies' Delight depicts the growth of capitalism through the workings of a new economic entity, the department store. The novel centres around the story of the young Denise, who is seeking work in Paris, and Octave Mouret, the aspirational director of the shopping emporium.

Set in the heart of the city, Zola's novel evokes the giddy pace of Paris's transition into a modern city and the changes in sexual attitudes and class relations taking place at the end of the century.

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'Zola overwhelms us with an abundance of description that oscillates between fantastical lyricism and meticulous realism, with plenty of rather wry psychological analysis to hold the two poles together.' Tim Parks

'I consider Zola’s books among the very best of the present time.' Vincent Van Gogh

'To enjoy Zola at his best, you have to read one of the great novels, in which a whole panorama emerges, as in the work of one of those highly realistic nineteenth-century painters.' A.N. Wilson

'Nothing gets a crowd going like sex and shopping. Émile Zola was one of the first to describe this new consumerist link in his novel Ladies’ Delight.' The Times

'Perhaps the most famous novel about shopping is Émile Zola’s Ladies’ Delight… For Zola, the department store was a metaphor for the triumph of capitalism… but he also saw it as the place where women were duped and enslaved into the new habit of consumerism.' The Guardian

'It's an excellent edition!' P.D. Smith

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Read an excerpt from Ladies Delight

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