A Love Story — Emile Zola

Hélène Grandjean an attractive young widow lives a secluded life in Paris with her only child Jeanne Jeanne is a delicate and nervous girl who jealously guards her mother s affections When Jeanne falls ill she is attended by Dr Deberle whose growing admiration for Hélène gradually turns into mutual passion Deberle s wife Juliette meanwhile flirts with a shallow admirer and Hélène intent on preventing her adultery precipitates a crisis whose consequences are far reaching Jeanne realizes she has a rival for Hélène s devotion in the doctor and begins to exercise a tyrannous hold over her mother The eighth novel in Zola s celebrated Rougon Macquart series A Love Story is an intense psychological and nuanced portrayal of love s different guises Zola s study extends most notably to the city of Paris itself whose shifting moods reflect Hélène s emotional turmoil in passages of extraordinary lyrical description