Zola: A Life
Frederick Brown, in his modest and superlative way, has written the great novelists' biography as Zola himself might have aspired to write one of his own finest novels. His book is a meticulous, expertly crafted entity that gathers strength from strength as it goes along toward its dramatic denouement, its length adding to the cumulative passion and moral importance of the whole work. This is a momentous achievement. Enthralling!