Published in 1867, Thérese Raquin is the novel which established Zola’s reputation as a writer who forensically explored the darker side of human nature. Thérese is a half Algerian orphan, brought up in provincial France by her aunt and married off to her sickly cousin Camille. His ambition takes the three of them to Paris, where they set up home in the dank and dingy backstreets that run down to the Seine.