Scan barcode
A review by linniekin
Germinal by Émile Zola
5.0
Bleak but brilliant. Zola writes with the pace of Dumas, the cruelty of Flaubert, the knowingness of Maupassant and the pathos of Balzac. I’ll be honest, I was expecting this story set in a mining town to be a bit of a trudge, but I was gripped and - can’t believe I’m saying this, it doesn’t happen often - came away with a new contender for ‘best book ever’.