Books with title Taken at the Flood

Francois Besson listens to a tape recording of a girl contemplating suicide. Drifting through the days in a provincial city, he thoughtlessly starts a fire in his apartment, attends confession, and examines, with great intentness but without affection, a naked woman he wakes beside. And, as Besson moves through an ugly and threatening rain, his thoughts eventually lead to violence, first turned outward and then directed languidly against himself.

A wonderful collection of three surreal stories from French master Émile Zola given a fresh new translation Sixty-two-year-old Louis Roubieu sees his family's long-awaited prosperity as a reward rained upon him by God for years of arduous toil on the land. Yet it is the very abundance of God's rain, initially observed from the window of their imposing farmhouse, which comes to pose a dire threat to not merely their livelihood but their very lives. Along with the complementary stories presented here, the celebrated "Blood" and "Three Wars," this is a departure from the dark realism for which Zola is more commonly known.

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The Flood is a novel by Émile Zola that discusses the subject of the weakness of mankind in front of the gigantic and often devastating forces of nature. The story revolves around a French family living on a farm destroyed by a flood. The perspective through which the reader sees the events is that of the 70-year-old father, Louis Roubien and the characters involved in the accident are his children, grandchildren and their families. The first pages present Roubien and his quiet, blissful life amidst his loving family - happiness that soon becomes discontinued when the Garonne River floods and devastates his farm and his home. Zola is the father of naturalism, so the reader can expect the most vivid descriptions of how the water advances and how helpless people are trying to flee from the disaster. The flood has moral and religious implications as well - Roubien frequently contemplates the reason for the catastrophe, asking himself whether the flood is the punishment for his contented life. According to the novel, the answer is no, neither Roubien himself, nor the members of his family are guilty of sins such as greed or sloth. They are simply the victims of the incalculable outburst of nature's power. The point of view he adopts is as objective as can be - in the end, he sees the events more in scientific terms than in terms of his own emotions. The Flood is not only an intensely philosophical novel, but also one packed full with thrilling events that will keep readers at the edge of their seats. Compared to other works by Zola, The Flood is relatively short, but in terms of style and brilliance it matches Zola's most important and most popular novels - if you are in search of a true naturalist masterpiece, this book will certainly give you what you are looking for.

My name is Louis Roubien. I am seventy years old. I was born in the village of Saint-Jory, several miles up the Garonne from Toulouse. For fourteen years I battled with the earth for my daily bread. At last, prosperity smiled on we, and last month I was still the richest farmer in the parish. Our house seemed blessed, happiness reigned there. The sun was our brother, and I cannot recall a bad crop. We were almost a dozen on the farm. There was myself, still hale and hearty, leading the children to work; then my young brother, Pierre, an old bachelor and retired sergeant; then my sister, Agathe, who came to us after the death of her husband. She was a commanding woman, enormous and gay, whose laugh could be heard at the other end of the village. Then came all the brood: my son, Jacques; his wife, Rosie, and their three daughters, Aimee, Veronique, and Marie. The first named was married to Cyprica Bouisson, a big jolly fellow, by whom she had two children, one two years old and the other ten months. Veronique was just betrothed, and was soon to marry Gaspard Rabuteau.

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