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The Ladies' Paradise

Au Bonheur des Dames

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The Ladies' Paradise

By: Émile Zola
Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
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About this listen

Zola’s The Ladies’ Paradise (Au Bonheur des Dames, 1883) plays out in a colossal and opulent Parisian department store of the same name. Its owner, Octave Mouret, builds his innovative, upmarket women’s fashion empire at the expense of the city’s smaller, traditional shops.

A self-declared manipulator of women, Mouret not only plays on his female customers’ personal insecurities and social aspirations to keep his takings high, but also exploits his mostly female staff who work long hours in harsh conditions. After a difficult start, one young recruit, Denise Baudu, ends up giving Mouret much more than he bargained for.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2021 Naxos AudioBooks UK Ltd. Classics
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Phenomenal social commentary. Not his best novel.

A long deeply descriptive detail of the birth of the one stop Department store and its impact on society, traditional small retail businesses and general employment practices.

Like Tolstoy, Zola is known for his long, sweeping descriptive prose. Zola paints his background of detailed aspects of life in mid 19th century France and the Industrial and commercial revolution.
Often set within a story of human nature, strife, exploitation, love and tragedy.

The Paradise is long on description, perhaps too much for my liking and less plot and story driven.
A good social commentary on the evolution in the retail trade but not the best novel in the RM series.

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