This is the first book by Zola I have read, and I marveled at his astute social observation and his ability to weave that into a novel that recreates a world in flux. The Ladies’ Paradise—modeled on Bon Marche, Paris’s first department store—becomes almost a character in this book, growing and changing under the direction of Octave Mouret, a retailing visionary who seeks to demonstrate that Paris’s many small shops can be brought more efficiently under one roof. The store is variously described as a machine, a church, and, of course, a paradise, but one that brings out the worst, Zola believes, in the sales staff and the customers, however amazing it is. Mouret is aided and abetted by Baron Hartmann (in history the Baron Hausmann who transformed the city), whose demolition and rational rebuilding helps Mouret’s store take over his neighborhood. In Dickensian detail, Zola describes the destruction and bankruptcy of the individual local haberdashers, cloth sellers, lace-makers, and umbrella-makers. Most importantly, we follow one provincial girl from her arrival in Paris—penniless with two young brothers to care for—to the peak of her profession at the Ladies Paradise. Denise Baudu fends off the advances of her employer and other salesmen, to maintain her honor, care for the shopkeepers in their neighborhood, and raise her brothers. But she is also a woman of the future and has her own ideas about retail innovation; even if Zola does not outline them, he makes it clear that Denise has found a way to be forward-looking *and* humane. Although the marvels of merchandising get a bit tiring sometimes, this book is in an incredible accomplishment.