L'Assommoir, Book Seven of Rougon-Macquart Cycle

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