Part of the Les Rougon Macquart series by Emile Zola; this novel is a bleak but realistic portrayal of the poverty stricken lives of Parisian underclass during late 1800s.The main character Gervaise and her two children are deserted by her lover and hoping for a better life she marries Coupeau. But little does she know that now along with poverty she has to face her husbands Alcoholism as well.