内容简介：
During the severe winter of 1860 the river Oise was frozen over and the plains of Lower Picardy were covered with deep snow. On Christmas Day, especially, a heavy squall from the north-east had almost buried the little city of Beaumont. The snow, which began to fall early in the morning, increased towards evening and accumulated during the night; in the upper town, in the Rue des Orfevres, at the end of which, as if enclosed therein, is the northern front of the cathedral transept, this was blown with great force by the wind against the portal of Saint Agnes, the old Romanesque portal, where traces of Early Gothic could be seen, contrasting its florid ornamentation with the bare simplicity of the transept gable.
作者简介：
左拉全名émile Zola。
他7岁时父亲病故，他和母亲在外祖父的接济下生活。在中学求学时已显露文学才华，试写了一些小说、诗歌和喜剧及抒情文章。 1862 年进阿谢特书局当打包工人，不久即以诗作出众被提升为广告部主任。这期间陆续在报刊上发表作品。
左拉从28岁到54岁，勤奋写作了26 年，终于写完了一部巨著《鲁贡玛卡一家人的自然史和社会史》，其中包括20部长篇小说，登场人物达1000 多人。