The Dream

by Émile Zola

Part of Les Rougon-Macquart, book 16

First published 2004

Angelique works her needle in the shadow of a great cathedral in northern France. The young embroiderer knows her place among the poor, but when she meets the son of a wealthy aristocratic family, her world shifts. Their love blooms in the quiet streets of this sleepy town, far from the chaos of city life. Yet their different stations create an impossible barrier. Angelique must navigate the gulf between her humble reality and her soaring dreams of love. The cathedral bells ring over a romance where passion battles against the rigid boundaries of class and circumstance. This is a story where dreams and reality blur, where a young woman's heart pulls her toward a love that society forbids.

Genres: drama, romance, literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century

Vibes: emotional, intimate, lyrical

Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, star-crossed-lovers

Setting: France, Northern France

Period: 19th-century

212 pages · Paperback · IndyPublish

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