Au Bonheur des Dames (The Ladies’ Delight). Emile Zola. 2001.

Au Bonheur des Dames is the glittering Paris department store run by Octove Mouret. He has used charm and drive to become director of this mighty emporium, unscrupulously exploiting his young famale staff and seducing his lady customers with luxurious displays of shimmering silks, satins, velvet and lace. Then Denise Baudu, a naive provincial girl,  becomes an assistant at the store -and Mouret discovers that he in turn can also be enchanted. With its greedy customers, gossiping staff and vibrant sense of theatre, Au Bonheur Des Dames is one of the most richly exciting novels in Zola’s Les Rougon-Macquart cycle.