L'Assommoir, Book Seven of Rougon-Macquart Cycle
Author: first_name: Émile
last_name: Zola
Language: English
Year: 1876

Gervaise Macquart runs away to Paris with Lantier, to work as a washerwoman.  Lantier abandons her and their two sons.  She then marries the roofer Coupeau, and has a daughter, nicknamed Nana.  She opens her own laundry; then everything goes downhill, as both Gervaise and Coupeau succumb to alcoholism. - Summary by Mark Leder