Thérèse Raquin
by Émile Zola 1840–1902
The book, and the century it came out of.
Translated by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly
A young wife, her sickly husband and his friend fall into an affair in a dark shop in a Paris passage, and afterwards they are alone with each other and with what they know. Zola was twenty-seven; a critic called the book putrid literature, and Zola reprinted the insult in his preface, claiming he had merely dissected two human animals. Nothing supernatural appears, and it is the most haunted book he wrote. Illustrated with 60 full-page plates — paintings by Danvin, Pether and Sörensen among them.
This volume, “Thérèse Raquin,” was Zola’s third book, but it was the one that first gave him notoriety, and made him somebody, as the saying goes.
Thérèse Raquin, by Émile Zola, complete and unabridged. Spelling and punctuation follow present-day American usage; the sentences, the paragraphs and the voice are the author’s, word for word.
It was written in another era and may carry attitudes a reader today will find dated. They are kept for the sake of the work and do not reflect the views of this house.
- Series
- Gothic & Horror
- Format
- Ebook
- Extent
- about 224 pages
- Reading time
- about 4 hours
- Illustrations
- Full-page plates, credited
- Text
- Complete, unabridged
- Translation
- Ernest Alfred Vizetelly
- Language
- en
- This edition
- 2026
- ISBN
- 9785486285431
60 paintings are bound into this edition
Six of them are shown here, taken from the volume itself. Each is reproduced full page and named with its painter and year.
A page from this edition
Not a mock-up: this page is taken from the finished volume. The ornament above the chapter belongs to its shelf and to no other, the opening letter is set as a drop capital, and the plate below carries the name of the painter and the year.
Both photographed from the finished volume.
Thérèse Raquin, issued in this edition by Aeneas Press in 2026 on the Gothic & Horror shelf. Newly set, with the ornament of its series above each chapter and a drop capital on the opening page. Illustrated with full-page plates, each named with its painter.
Published as an ebook and not issued in print by this house; it carries one ISBN, 9785486285431, and is supplied worldwide. This edition — its setting, its ornament, its cover art, and the selection and attribution of its plates — © 2026 Aeneas Press.
Questions readers ask
- Is this the whole of Thérèse Raquin?
- Yes — complete and unabridged. Nothing is cut, condensed or paraphrased. This is the book, not a summary of it.
- What exactly did you change?
- The spelling and the punctuation follow present-day American usage. Émile Zola's sentences are untouched — same words, same order, same rhythm.
- Are the pictures really in the book?
- Yes. The edition carries full-page plates bound into the text, each one named with its painter and the year it was made. Six of them are shown on this page.
- How long is it?
- About 224 pages, which is roughly about 4 hours of reading.
- What do I actually get?
- An illustrated ebook with its own ISBN, sold worldwide. One file, yours to keep, readable on any device.
