"The Dream" by Émile Zola is, at its core, a romance about an orphan who falls in love with a noble man. Angélique Marie is adopted by a couple of embroiderers, the Huberts, whose marriage is blighted by childlessness which they attribute to a curse uttered by Mme Hubert's mother on her deathbed. Angélique is enthralled by the tales of the saints and martyrs as told in the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine. Her dream is to be saved by a handsome prince and to live happily ever after, in the same way, the virgin martyrs have their faiths tested on earth before being rescued and married to Jesus in heaven.