In August 1932 Andre Gide wrote in his 'Journals' 'Germinal, which I am reading for the third (or fourth) time, seems more admirable than ever'.

He went on to choose it as one of the ten best novels in the French language. The thirteenth in the great Rougon-Macquart sequence, 'Germinal' was written by Zola to draw attention once again to the misery prevailing among the poor in France during the Second Empire. The novel, which has now become a sociological document, depicts the grim struggle between capital and labour in a coalfield in northern France. Yet through the blackness of this picture, humanity is constantly apparent, and the final impression is one of compassion and hope for the future, not only for organized labour, but also for man.