Orphaned at the age of four, Germinie Lacerteux is forced to enter service in Paris in order to pay her way, in a story that paints a vision of 19th-century Paris haunted by poverty, death,
and despair. In the service of Mlle de Varandeuil, Germinie realizes that if she wishes to remain employed, she faces an unmarried life. Such a frustration of her maternal instincts
engenders a deep devotion to her niece; Germinie is crushed when the girl is removed by her parents. Many relationships of the same mold ensue, the heroine each time forging loving bonds
that are broken. In the face of such drudgery, the Goncourt brothers reveal the value of such simple pleasures as a walk in the countryside; and through the story of Germinie Lacerteux’s
life, they examine questions of the individual’s poweror powerlessnessto control his or her own fate.
