Emile Zola 
Germinal 

Germinal is a French writer Émile Zola novel. The story is set in France during the second industrial revolution. The plot takes place in the mining area of northern France and describes the hard life of the miners of the second industrial revolution, as well as the political organization of the working class and the trade union. As a premonition, the novel preceded by decades the mining disaster of Courrières where miners lost their lives in 1099.