Jules de Goncourt (1830 -1870) was a French writer. First published in 1864 Germinie Lacerteux is the best-known novel of Les Frères Goncourt. It is a story based on the life of one of their servants. She served them faithfully for years and was; they learned later, leading a double life of vice and debauchery that ended miserably with her death in a poorhouse. From the introduction, "the public loves to read pleasant, soothing stories, adventures that end happily, imaginative works that disturb neither its digestion nor its peace of mind: this book furnishes entertainment of a melancholy, violent sort calculated to disarrange the habits and injure the health of the public."