This final volume in Zola"s twenty-book Rougon-Macquart cycle serves in many respects as an epilogue to the series -- but it"s also a fine tale in its own right. Doctor Pascal, approaching old age, looks back on his life and finds himself asking whether he has made the right choices . . . and the answers he finds aren"t always what you"d expect. Those who enjoy Zola"s better-known novels will find much to appreciate here as well.