The Belly of Paris

Part of Emile Zola&#146;s multigenerational Rougon-Macquart saga <b>The Belly of Paris </b>is the story of Florent Quenu a wrongly accused man who escapes imprisonment on Devil&#146;s Island. Returning to his native Paris Florent finds a city he barely recognizes with its working classes displaced to make way for broad boulevards and bourgeois flats. Living with his brother&#146;s family in the newly rebuilt Les Halles market Florent is soon caught up in a dangerous maelstrom of food and politics. Amid intrigue among the market&#146;s sellers&#150;the fishmonger the charcuti&#232;re the fruit girl and the cheese vendor&#150;and the glorious culinary bounty of their labors we see the dramatic difference between &#147;fat and thin&#148; (the rich and the poor) and how the widening gulf between them strains a city to the breaking point. <br><br>Translated and with an Introduction by the celebrated historian and food writer Mark Kurlansky<b> The Belly of Paris</b> offers fascinating perspectives on the French capital during the Second Empire&#150;and of course tantalizing descriptions of its sumptuous repasts.