'Abbe Faujas has arrived!'

The arrival of Abbe Faujas in the provincial town of Plassans has profound consequences for the community, and for the family of Fran�ois Mouret in particular. Faujas and his mother come to lodge with Fran�ois, his wife Marthe, and their three children, and Marthe quickly falls under the influence
of the priest. Ambitious and unscrupulous, Faujas gradually infiltrates into all quarters of the town, intent on political as well as religious conquest. Intrigue, slander, and insinuation tear the townsfolk apart, creating suspicion and distrust, and driving the Mourets to ever more extreme
actions.

The fourth novel in Zola's Rougon-Macquart sequence, The Conquest of Plassans returns to the fictional Proven�al town from which the family sprang in The Fortune of the Rougons. In one of the most psychological of his novels, Zola links small-town politics to the greater political and national
dramas of the Second Empire.

The first modern translation for more than fifty years and the first critical edition, features a fascinating introduction and helpful notes by Man Booker Prize nominated novelist and poet Patrick McGuinness.

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"Entertaining yet incisive, The Conquest of Plassans remains a devastatingly acute reminder that religion and politics make surprisingly compatible bedfellows." --The ArtsFuse