La Curee.

In this novel Aristide Saccard, who followed his brother Eugene to Paris in the hope of sharing
the spoils of the Second Empire (

  La Fortune des Rougon

), was successful in amassing a vast fortune by speculation inbuilding-sites. His first wife having died, he
married Renee Beraud du Chatel, a lady of good family, whosedowry first enabled him to throw himself
into the struggle of financial life. In a magnificent mansion which hebuilt in the Parc Monceau a life of
inconceivable extravagance began. The mushroom society of Paris was atthis period the most corrupt in
Europe, and the Saccards soon came to be regarded as leaders in every form of pleasure. Vast though
their fortune was, their expenses were greater, and a catastrophe was frequentlyimminent. Renee,
satisfied with prodigality of every kind, entered on an infamous liaison with her husband'sson, a liaison
which Aristide condoned in order to extract money from his wife. Rene ultimately died, leavingher
husband immersed in his feverish speculations.The novel gives a powerful though unpleasant picture of
Parisian society in the period which followed therestoration of the Empire in 1851