The Three Cities Trilogy

This trilogy, made up of Lourdes, Rome and Paris, follows Pierre Froment, a French priest whose faith is shaken. In Lourdes he witnesses the crowds seeking miraculous cures. In Rome he travels to seek approval for a controversial book, and encounters the politics and splendour of the Church. In Paris he confronts poverty, anarchism and the claims of science. Written after the Rougon-Macquart cycle, the work shows Zola examining belief, social reform and the hopes of a new century.