The only other Zola book in the house, although I have since invested something like £1.69 in Amazon to buy the complete works for my kindle.
Earth is nothing like as good as Germinal; just a French provincial tale of peasants fighting and sometimes killing each other over agricultural land around Chartres.
Based around a variant of the 'King Lear' theme; father divides up his land reluctantly between his three children. But there is no Cordelia here.
The most interesting figure is Jean, an incomer to the area, who views the peasants with a degree of detachment, but falls in love with a juvenile, marries her but she is then murdered by her sister for motives mixing sexual jealousy with her desire to retain her land.
But it is mono-thematic in comparison with Germinal.
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