Orphaned, Denise arrives in Paris from Normandy with her two young brothers. Her uncle, a small draper, is being ruined by the department store across the road, The Ladies' Paradise. Denise starts work there as a shop assistant, mocked by the other employees, and little by little catches the eye of the owner, the ambitious Octave Mouret.
Huge departments, dazzling shop windows, customers spending freely: Zola tells of the birth of the department store, and the story of an upright young woman whom money cannot buy.
With the translation always in front of you, this absorbing story is easy to read in the language you are learning.
