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The Thrifty Reader

Les Rougon-Macquart books in order

Les Rougon-Macquart by Émile Zola has 20 books, published 1871–1893. Reading all of them takes about 153 hours (8,324 pages). Every book are free to read.

1The Fortune of the… 2La Curée 3Le Ventre de Paris 4La Conquête de Plas… 5La Faute de l'Abbé… 6Son Excellence Eugè… 7L'Assommoir 8Une Page d'amour 9Nana 10Pot-Bouille 11The Ladies' Paradise 12La Joie de vivre 13Germinal 14L'Œuvre 15La Terre 16Le Rêve 17La Bête humaine 18L'Argent 19La Débâcle 20Doctor Pascal
Spines are sized by page count. The orange dot marks a free ebook.

Reading order

  1. Book 1 · 1871

    The Fortune of the Rougons

    308 pages, about 5.7 hours

    FREE EBOOK

  2. Book 2 · 1871

    La Curée

    381 pages, about 7 hours

    FREE EBOOK

  3. Book 3 · 1873

    Le Ventre de Paris

    410 pages, about 7.5 hours 3.0★ (3)

    FREE EBOOK

  4. Book 4 · 1874

    La Conquête de Plassans

    388 pages, about 7.1 hours

    FREE EBOOK

  5. Book 5 · 1875

    La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret

    437 pages, about 8 hours

    FREE EBOOK

  6. Book 6 · 1876

    Son Excellence Eugène Rougon

    442 pages, about 8.1 hours

    FREE EBOOK

  7. Book 7 · 1876

    L'Assommoir

    128 pages, about 2.4 hours

    FREE EBOOK FREE AUDIO

  8. Book 8 · 1879

    Une Page d'amour

    406 pages, about 7.5 hours

    FREE EBOOK

  9. Book 9 · 1880

    Nana

    469 pages, about 8.6 hours 4.0★ (4)

    FREE EBOOK FREE AUDIO

  10. Book 10 · 1882

    Pot-Bouille

    486 pages, about 8.9 hours 4.0★ (1)

    FREE EBOOK

  11. Book 11 · 1883

    The Ladies' Paradise

    464 pages, about 8.5 hours 4.3★ (9)

    FREE EBOOK

  12. Book 12 · 1884

    La Joie de vivre

    441 pages, about 8.1 hours

    FREE EBOOK

  13. Book 13 · 1885

    Germinal

    499 pages, about 9.2 hours 4.2★ (14)

    FREE EBOOK

  14. Book 14 · 1886

    L'Œuvre

    491 pages, about 9 hours

    FREE EBOOK

  15. Book 15 · 1887

    La Terre

    501 pages, about 9.2 hours

    FREE EBOOK

  16. Book 16 · 1888

    Le Rêve

    212 pages, about 3.9 hours

    FREE EBOOK

  17. Book 17 · 1890

    La Bête humaine

    464 pages, about 8.5 hours

    FREE EBOOK

  18. Book 18 · 1891

    L'Argent

    445 pages, about 8.2 hours

    FREE EBOOK

  19. Book 19 · 1892

    La Débâcle

    554 pages, about 10 hours 3.0★ (2)

    FREE EBOOK

  20. Book 20 · 1893

    Doctor Pascal

    398 pages, about 7.3 hours

    FREE EBOOK

Questions people ask

How many Les Rougon-Macquart books are there?

There are 20 books in the series, published 1871–1893.

Which Les Rougon-Macquart book should I read first?

Start with The Fortune of the Rougons (1871), book 1. The list above is the reading order.

How long does it take to read the whole series?

About 153 hours at an average pace of 250 words a minute, or 8,324 pages in total. The longest book is La Débâcle at 554 pages.

Can I read Les Rougon-Macquart for free?

All of them are in the public domain, so you can download them free from Project Gutenberg. The book pages have the links.