The Ladies Delight is the glittering Paris department store run by Octave Mouret. He has used charm and drive to become director of this mighty emporium, unscrupulously exploiting his young female staff and seducing his lady customers with luxurious displays of shimmering silks, satins, velvets and lace. Then Denise Baudu, a naive provincial girl, becomes an assistant at the store – and Mouret discovers that he in turn can also be enchanted. With its greedy customers, gossiping staff and vibrant sense of theatre, The Ladies Delight (Au Bonheur des Dames in the original French) is one of the most richly exciting novels in Zola s Les Rougon-Macquart cycle.