Emile Zola 
Nana 

Classic naturalist novel about a prostitute in Paris, in English translation. First published in 1880. According to Wikipedia: ‘Nana is a novel by the French naturalist author Émile Zola. Completed in 1880, Nana is the ninth installment in the 20-volume Les Rougon-Macquart series, the object of which was to tell ‘The Natural and Social History of a Family under the Second Empire’, the subtitle of the series….Nana tells the story of Nana Coupeau’s rise from streetwalker to high-class cocotte during the last three years of the French Second Empire. Nana first appears in the end of L’Assommoir (1877), another of Zola’s Rougon-Macquart series, in which she is portrayed as the daughter of an abusive drunk; in the end, she is living in the streets and just beginning a life of prostitution…. Emile Zola (2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902) was an influential French writer, the most important example of the literary school of naturalism, and a major figure in the political liberalization of France…’