'Theresa Raquin' is a novel by French writer Émile Zola. It was Zola's third novel, though the first to earn wide fame. The novel's adultery and murder were considered scandalous and famously described as "putrid" in a review in the newspaper Le Figaro. The novel tells the story of a young woman, unhappily married to her first cousin by an overbearing aunt, who may seem to be well-intentioned but in many ways is deeply selfish. Theresa's husband, Camille, is sickly and egocentric and when the opportunity arises, she enters into a turbulent and sordidly passionate affair with one of Camille's friends, Laurent.
