num_pages: 423
description: Abandoned by her lover and left to bring up their two children alone, Gervaise Macquart has to fight to earn an honest living. When she accepts the marriage proposal of Monsieur Coupeau, it seems as though she is on the path to a decent, respectable life at last. But with her husband's drinking and the unexpected appearance of a figure from her past, Gervaise's plans begin to unravel tragically. The Drinking Den caused a sensation when it was first published, with its gritty depiction of the poverty and squalor, slums and drinking houses of the Parisian underclass. The seventh novel in Zola's great Rougon-Macquart cycle, it was the work that made his reputation. And, in his moving portrayal of Gervaise's struggle for happiness, Zola created one of the most sympathetic heroines in nineteenth-century literature.
language: English
title: L'Assommoir
titlecomplete: L'Assommoir
characters: Coupeau, Goujet, Virginie Poisson, Claude Lantier, Auguste Lantier, Étienne Lantier, Gervaise Macquart, Nana Coupeau
genres: Literature, Classics, School, Novels, 19th Century, France, Roman, Historical Fiction, French Literature, Fiction
ratings_count: 16125
places: France, Paris
series: Les Rougon-Macquart
publisher: Viking Pr