Germinal

Description of book

'Germinal' is a masterpiece of the French literary tradition, which tells the story of Étienne Lantier, a hard-working but naïve young man who arrives at a coal mining town in northern France looking for work. Étienne befriends the veteran miner Maheu and embraces socialist principles, eventually becoming involved in a miners' strike. The novel portrays the harsh reality of the workers' lives and the social and economic conditions of 19th-century France.