The Conquest of Plassans, by Émile Zola.

The Conquest of Plassans: the fourth in the 'Rougon Macquart' cycle, published in 1874, written by the wonder that is Zola.

That said, this wasn't the easiest to read, and I even had a false start: it was a mistake to read it at the same time as Brothers Karamazov what with all the "Abbés" in both stories, and as I said in my review, Brothers Karamazov is a very demanding read. I don't think I could have read anything at the same time. But I did enjoy it, and I still think Zola is the best writer the world has ever seen.

In this, he is sinister and deeply unnerving at times whilst writing about the clash of the church and politics. The story centres on the Mourets - François Mouret, son of Ursule Marquart (who we meet in Fortune of the Rougons) and Marthe Mouret, née Rougon, the eldest daughter of Pierre and Félicité, and sister of Aristide Saccard (the chief character of The Kill). They are cousins, and here is the first theme - genetics, "the sins of the father" (as in Brothers Karamazov). They both inherit characteristics of Adélaïde Fouque and Rougon, introduced to us in the first book of the Rougon Macquart cycle, Fortune of the Rougons, and as you see as the book goes on, the madness of Adélaïde is as apparent in the third generation of the Rougons.

In The Conquest of Plassans, François and Marthe rent a room in their house to Abbé Faujas and his mother. Ovid Faujas has secretly been sent to Plassans to bring voters in line with the emperor's officials. He is a terrifying character, and Zola paints him so subtly, hints here and hints there, but with a storyline that has an ending both inevitable and shocking at once, the tension is constant. In the beginning he is quiet, and yet somehow manages to garner information from people. He unsettles Marthe profoundly:

The Abbé felt a masculine and priestly disdain for woman, and in spite of himself this disdain often made itself manifest in some slightly harsh expression. On these occasions Marthe was affected by a strange feeling of anxiety. She raised her eyes with one of those sudden thrills of alarm which cause people to cast a hurried glance behind them, half expecting to see some concealed enemy raising his hand to strike. At other times, on catching sight of the Abbé's cassock, she would check herself suddenly in the midst of a laugh, and would relapse into silence, quite confused, astonished at finding herself talking so freely to a man who was so different from other men. It was a long time before there was any real intimacy between them.
Abbé Faujas never directly questioned Marthe about her husband, or her children, or her house; but, nevertheless, he gradually made himself acquainted with every detail of their history and manner of life.

And yet, Marthe is drawn to him. He comes to dominate their home and their lives, and that opening scene of their happy, peaceful family makes a bitter contrast with the conclusion. Truly awful, and so typical of Zola.

But, as I said, not such an easy read. I wasn't quite as enthralled as I have been (I've read Germinal, Thérèse Raquin, The Fortune of the Rougons, The Kill, The Belly of Paris, and now this, The Conquest of Plassans. But, I'm very much enjoying reading the cycle. It's, as I say, quite typical of Zola, and in its themes typical of it's time (religion and politics, and indeed the clash of them, is familiar territory for those who read Victorian literature), but Zola does it in his own perfect, sinister, frightening way. Oh, and that ending, so reminiscent of The Fortune of the Rougons, which emphasises the inevitability, the tragic fate of the Rougon Macquart genes... I'm going straight into the fifth, Abbé Mouret's Transgression tonight. I only wish I did spoilers: I'd quote that very last sentence and let you see the horror of it. But you'd need to read it to truly appreciate it!

[A side note: if you have read this, and you've read a different translation (I read the E. A. Vizetelly translation) - do me a favour, email me or tweet me and tell me the translation of the last sentence in your book?]