""Then they buried me alive in this vile shop."" Therese is stifled by her relationship with her aging aunt and pale, sickly, cousin-husband Camille. When Laurent, "tall and robust, with a florid complexion" arrives in the Raquin household, Therese starts an affair that has irrevocable consequences for them all. Written in 1867, Emile Zola's third novel, "Therese Raquin," is set in the dank arcades of the passages of the Pont Neuf in Paris. Dealing with lust, adultery, murder and guilt, the publication of "Therese Raquin" established Zola as a writer unafraid to deal with the darker, animalistic side of human nature. "Therese Raquin" was a precursor to Zola's famous Rougon-Macquart series of books, and features the naturalism for which he is particularly remembered. This edition, which has been completely reset in fresh type, includes both the translator's and author's prefaces."