The seventh novel in the Rougon-Macquart cycle L'Assommoir (1877) is the story of a woman's struggle for happiness in working-class Paris. At the center of the story stands Gervaise who starts her own laundry and for a time makes a success of it. But her husband soon squanders her earnings in the Assommoir a local drinking spot and gradually the pair sink into poverty and squalor. L'Assommoir was a contemporary bestseller outraged conservative critics and launched a passionate debate about the legitimate scope of modern literature. This new translation captures not only the brutality but the pathos of its characters' lives.
