L' Assommoir

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