(aka The Coqueville Spree)

Zola has rarely displayed the quality of humour, but it is present in this novella called The Fête at Coqueville (French original title: La fête à Coqueville).

Coqueville is the name given to a very remote Norman fishing-village, set in a gorge of rocks, and almost inaccessible except from the sea. Here a sturdy population of some hundred and eighty souls, all sprung from two rival families, live in the condition of a tiny Verona, torn between contending interests. A ship laden with liqueurs is wrecked on the rocks outside, and one precious cask after another comes riding into Coqueville over the breakers. The villagers spend a glorious week of perfumed inebriety...

A very amusingly and very picturesquely told story.
With an essay by Edmund Gosse about The Short Stories of Zola.

Emile Zola (1840-1902) is a French novelist and critic and the founder of the Naturalist movement in literature, which he defined as "nature seen through a temperament."

• Emile Zola books at Barnes & Noble (United States)
• Emile Zola books at Amazon.com (United States)
• Emile Zola books at Amazon.co.uk (Great Britain)
• Emile Zola books at Amazon.ca (Canada)

More info about the Rougon-Macquart series at Wikipedia.