Story Overview

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.

Introduction of Nana

Nana first appears at 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.