Emile Zola

The Fat and the Thin illustrated Emile Zola

THE FAT AND THE THIN, or, to use the French title, Le Ventre de Paris, is a story of life in and around those vast Central Markets which form a distinctive feature of modern Paris. Even the reader who has never crossed the Channel must have heard of the Parisian Halles, for much has been written about them, not only in English books on the French metropolis, but also in English newspapers, magazines, and reviews; so that few, I fancy, will commence the perusal of the present volume without having, at all events, some knowledge of its subject matter