Au Bonheur des Dames

Emile Zola

Au Bonheur des Dames is a novel by Émile Zola published in 1883, the eleventh volume of the novel series Les Rougon-Macquart. Through a sentimental story with an unusually happy ending, the novel draws the reader into the world of department stores, one of the innovations of the Second Empire. The model for the character of Octave Mouret is Auguste Hériot, co-founder of the Grands Magasins du Louvre.