L'Assommoir
by Émile Zola
- First published
- 1876
- Reading level
- Easy
- Price
- Free
About the book
"L'Assommoir" by Émile Zola is a novel published in 1877. The seventh installment in Zola's Les Rougon-Macquart series, it follows Gervaise Macquart, a washerwoman in working-class Paris, as she struggles to build a life after being abandoned by her lover. What begins with hope and hard-won success gradually unravels through injury, idleness, and addiction. Zola's unflinching portrayal of alcoholism and poverty shocked nineteenth-century readers with its raw realism and authentic street language, sparking both acclaim and controversy.
- Domestic fiction
- Married women
- Paris (France)
- Working class women
Updated September 2026. Public domain in the USA. Text and summary from Project Gutenberg eBook #8600. L'Assommoir on Wikipedia.
