14 h 25 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 14 h 25 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a priest’s longing for perfect purity meets a garden alive with forbidden love?
In Émile Zola’s Abbé Mouret’s Transgression, Serge Mouret serves Les Artaud, a poor village on the bare hills of Provence. His devotion to the Virgin Mary fills his life, but his parishioners care little for church. He seeks purity through prayer and self-denial, until fasting and strain bring him to a grave illness. His body can no longer bear what he asks of it.
Beyond the village lies the Paradou, a wild garden enclosed by walls. Here lives Albine, lively and barefoot, who wants to love and be loved. As Serge’s story enters her world, Zola brings sacred vows and human desire into conflict. The harsh church and the lush garden offer rival ways of living, and neither leaves the young priest’s deepest hopes untouched.
What you’ll discover
- A garden that beckons Enter the Paradou, where rich descriptions of nature give desire a vivid, living setting.
- Faith under strain Follow Serge’s longing for purity as the demands of his body challenge his devotion.
- Albine’s open heart Meet a girl whose sheltered life in the garden leaves her unafraid of love.
- A village sharply drawn Encounter indifferent peasants, a fussing housekeeper, and a brutal teacher who insists on obedience.
- Ideas rooted in life Explore Zola’s naturalism through people shaped by their surroundings, their bodies, and their beliefs.
Who will love it
This is for readers who love richly painted settings and stories where faith and desire pull at one heart. It suits anyone drawn to gardens, villages and the people who live in them.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A poor Mass while May storms the church
- A village that grows like brambles
- An uncle's visit leads to the Paradou
- Night and fever shake the priest's devotion
- Serge wakes into a second childhood
- Roses, fruit and meadow teach them to love
- The tree, the breach and the bell
- Back at the altar, grace comes and goes
- Church and garden as two rival worlds
- How Zola tells it: seasons, senses and echoes
Who’s who
- Serge MouretA pure young priest who longs to vanish into God and finds, through illness, a world he never knew existed.
- AlbineJeanbernat's sixteen-year-old niece, who runs free in the Paradou and wants Serge as her companion for life.
- DesiréeSerge's sister, a big, happy, simple girl who loves her farmyard animals and wants only to see them multiply.
- La TeuseThe limping, talkative servant who mothers the priest, bullies his sister and guards the church and rectory.
- Brother ArchangiasA coarse schoolmaster in holy orders who hates women and nature and wants to keep Serge rigid and afraid.
- Doctor PascalSerge's uncle, a kind scientist with a white beard who treats the poor without payment and studies his family like specimens.
- JeanbernatAlbine's old uncle and the park's caretaker, an unbeliever who reads philosophers and hides from the Paradou behind lettuces.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer, once the book texts are online.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, once the book texts are online.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read today.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook and the audiobook open when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
Die Sünde des Abbé Mouret
by Émile Zola · 1875
A young priest in a barren village falls ill and wakes in a hidden garden beside a girl named Albine.
Medium level10–20 hours to readDeutsch
Excellent
- Read or listen
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
What does a young priest do when the sun walks into his church? In Abbé Mouret's Transgression, Serge Mouret says Mass in a bare village chapel while sparrows hop between the benches and May light pours through the broken windows.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A poor Mass while May storms the church
The book opens with a Mass, told almost step by step. The old servant La Teuse limps through the church and scolds everyone in sight. Abbé Mouret, twenty-six, puts on each vestment with a prayer.
The church is poor. Its windows are cracked and its walls look like those of a stable. As the service goes on, the sun climbs, a rowan tree pushes branches through the broken panes, and sparrows hop between the benches. When his sister Desirée bursts in with newly hatched chicks in her apron, the smell of the farmyard blows across the altar. Still the priest does not look up.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 8 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1875
- Language
- Deutsch
- Reading time
- 9 h 25 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Zola, Émile. Abbé Mouret's Transgression. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/abbe-mourets-transgression.
Zola, É. (2026). Abbé Mouret's transgression. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/abbe-mourets-transgression (Original work published 1875)
Zola, Émile. Abbé Mouret's Transgression. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/abbe-mourets-transgression.
@book{zola2026abbe,
author = {Zola, Émile},
title = {Abbé Mouret's Transgression},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/abbe-mourets-transgression},
note = {First published 1875}
}
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Die Sünde des Abbé Mouret
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Abbé Mouret's Transgression about?
It is about Serge Mouret, a devout young priest in a poor village who falls ill, is nursed back to health in a hidden garden by a girl named Albine, and must decide between love and his vows.
What is the Paradou?
The Paradou is a huge walled park near the village, abandoned for a century and overgrown with roses, orchards, meadows and forest. Albine and her uncle Jeanbernat live at its edge, and the garden stands for nature itself.
Is Abbé Mouret's Transgression part of a series?
Yes. Zola wrote it in 1875 as one novel in the Rougon-Macquart series, which follows one family across generations. Serge's uncle Doctor Pascal and other relatives are members of that family, but the book can be read on its own.
The author
Émile Zola
1840–1902 · French novelist
Émile Zola (1840–1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, and poet. He was born in Paris, grew up in Aix-en-Provence, and later lived in Paris and Médan. He wrote Thérèse Raquin (1867), Nana (1880), and Germinal (1885). His twenty-novel series, Les Rougon-Macquart, appeared between 1871 and 1893.
More by Émile Zola
All 14 booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
