Desire, Guilt and a Rotten Conscience

This week’s Tuesday Book Club takes a sharp turn into the shadows with Thérèse Raquin by Émile Zola—a novel of passion, murder, and the kind of guilt that seeps into your bones and refuses to leave. If you're in the mood for something intense and claustrophobic (in the best literary sense), this one’s for you.

What’s it about?

Thérèse Raquin lives a stifling life, married off to her sickly cousin Camille and stuck in the backroom of a Paris haberdashery run by her overbearing aunt. That is, until she begins a feverish affair with Laurent, a friend of her husband’s. Their desire turns desperate, then deadly; and what follows is a slow unravelling that’s part ghost story, part psychological horror, and entirely gripping.

This is Zola’s early foray into naturalism, and he doesn’t flinch. He lays bare the characters’ instincts, drives and moral decay in a way that still feels surprisingly modern. It’s not just a story of crime and punishment—it’s about what happens when people give in to their impulses and can’t find a way back.

Why read It now?

Because sometimes you need a book that doesn’t look away. Zola makes you sit with the consequences, with the dread, with the sense that what’s done cannot be undone. The writing is tense, visceral, and layered with psychological detail that reminds us: every passion has its price.

It’s also a sharp reminder that Victorian-era literature wasn’t all drawing rooms and repressed emotions—here, the emotions are raw, loud, and sometimes unbearably close.

Let’s talk about it

Have you read Thérèse Raquin? Did you find it more tragic or terrifying? And do you think Zola wants us to feel sympathy for Thérèse and Laurent—or is he just showing us what happens when people give in to their worst selves?

Join the conversation under #TuesdayBookClub and #ThereseRaquin on X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky. We’d love to hear your thoughts, reactions, or even the moments that made you squirm.