<p>Brutal gripping and heart-wrenching <i>L'Assommoir </i>(also known as <i>The Drinking Den</i>) chronicles the tragic downward spiral of Gervaise Macquart a good-natured and hardworking laundress who slides into alcoholism and despair.</p><p>After her lover abandons her and their two children Gervaise marries a tin worker Coupeau who helps her rebuild her life. She starts her own business and the two have a daughter Anna (the protagonist of Zola's later novel <i>Nana</i>). But their happiness is short-lived as a freak accident leaves Coupeau seriously injured beginning the family's fall into alcohol desperation and violence.</p><p>Disturbingly realistic <i>L'Assommoir </i>is a vivid portrayal of life in late 19th-century Paris. </p>