The Fortune of the Rougons, Book One of Rougon-Macquart Cycle by Emile Zola audiobook.

Genre: family

In The Fortune of the Rougons, Émile Zola opens his monumental Rougon-Macquart cycle with a vivid, unflinching portrait of a provincial French town and the birth of a family whose fortunes will come to define an era. Set against the turmoil of the 1851 coup and the rise of the Second Empire, the novel follows the descendants of Adélaïde Fouque—known as Tante Dide—as ambition, heredity, and circumstance split her brood into two distinct branches: the calculating, opportunistic Rougons and the ragged, rebellious Macquarts. Zola renders Plassans with surgical precision and rich, sensory detail: the whispering salons, the pulsing political meetings, the slow decay of old loyalties and the greedy mechanics of social advancement. Through sharp scenes of intrigue, persuasion, and small betrayals, The Fortune of the Rougons explores how power is seized and justified, how private motives become public consequence, and how a single family can mirror the larger forces shaping a nation. For listeners, this audiobook offers not only a gripping story of ambition and conflict but also the theater of Zola’s naturalist vision — vivid characters, moral complexity, and a historical atmosphere that crackles with unrest. It’s the compelling opening act of a vast saga: immersive, intellectually compelling, and impossible to forget.

Chapters (Approximate)

(00:00:00) Chapter 00

(00:13:52) Chapter 01

(00:17:44) Chapter 02

(00:55:48) Chapter 03

(01:40:56) Chapter 04

(02:20:16) Chapter 05

(03:26:07) Chapter 06

(04:10:50) Chapter 07

(05:19:24) Chapter 08

(06:25:43) Chapter 09

(07:28:42) Chapter 10

(08:29:22) Chapter 11

(09:29:56) Chapter 12

(10:07:35) Chapter 13

(11:10:13) Chapter 14

(12:17:39) Chapter 15

(13:20:32) Chapter 16

(13:35:52) Chapter 17

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices