A SUPERMARKET chain has apologised after exposing its customers to a book that was not an action thriller or idiotic historical romance.
A warehouse mix-up led to Asda selling copies of Emile Zola’s classic 1885 novel Germinal alongside dire paperbacks with titles like Operation Code Zero and Megan from the Mill.
An Asda spokesman said: “Anyone who bought Zola’s gripping tale of injustice and danger in a 19th century French mining community can get a full refund or exchange it for the equivalent value of fish fingers or bleach.”
Office worker Tom Logan said: “I bought Germinal because I assumed it was about germ warfare, but there were no terrorists or special forces, just a load of French people from the olden days.
“This Zola guy isn’t a proper novelist like Tom Clancy or Andy McNab. He’s not even the footballer.”
Teaching assistant Mary Fisher said: “It’s set in the 19th Century but doesn’t have a beautiful, feisty heroine who grows up in poverty but becomes a successful businesswoman, so I found it quite unrealistic.
“Fortunately they let me change it for Whiny Vampire Love Triangle.”
