In ’For a Night of Love’, the title story in this powerful collection from the father of naturalism, tbe apparently angelic Therese offers sexual favours toJulien, a petty clerk quite besotted with her. Her proposal, however, is not without its price... In ’Nantas’, the pregnant Flavie takes the advice of her maid, and coaxes her neighbour, Nantas, into a shotgun wedding, the promise of her dowry offering him a chance to fulfil his ambitions. And in ’Fasting’, the spiritual needs of well-offchurchgoing women are left unanswered by a vapid priest, whose love of fine food sits rather uneasily with his fire-and-brimstone sermons.

Emile Zola here presents characters bargaining for romantic, financial or religious assurances. For a Wight of Love collects three stories linked by their themes of deception and dissatisfaction. Together they form an extraordinary depiction of sexual mores.

Foreword by A.N. Wilson

Introduction

For a Night of Love

Nantas

Fasting

Biographical note