Piping Hot (Pot Bouille), Book Ten of Rougon-Macquart Cycle
Author: first_name: Émile
last_name: Zola
Language: English
Year: 1882

Covering a two-year period, Zola recounts the lives, intrigues, quarrel and loves of a group of five families all living in what was at the time an entirely new social construct, the apartment building.  This marks the midpoint of Zola's immense undertaking, the Rougon-Macquart Cycle. - Summary by Mark Leder