Germinal
Author: first_name: Émile
last_name: Zola
Language: English
Year: 1885

Etienne Lantier (our line to the Rougon-Macquart Cycle) goes to work as a coal miner in the Northern France town of Montou.  Conditions are terrible, and inevitably, the  miners go on strike, with dire results. - Summary by Mark Leder