Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • L'Assommoir [The Drinking Den]

  • By: Émile Zola
  • Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
  • Length: 15 hrs and 45 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (22 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
L'Assommoir [The Drinking Den] cover art

L'Assommoir [The Drinking Den]

By: Émile Zola
Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £20.99

Buy Now for £20.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Kill (La Curee) cover art
Thérèse Raquin cover art
Blood, Sex and Money cover art
In a German Pension cover art
Middlemarch cover art
Buddenbrooks cover art
The Three Musketeers (AmazonClassics Edition) cover art
The Duel and Other Stories cover art
The Red and the Black cover art
Slaughterhouse-Five cover art
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens & Peter and Wendy cover art
Colonel Chabert cover art
Bread Givers cover art
Casanova cover art
The Magic Mountain cover art
The Lady with the Dog & Other Stories (AmazonClassics Edition) cover art

Summary

Brutal, gripping, and heart-wrenching, L'Assommoir (also known as The Drinking Den) chronicles the tragic downward spiral of Gervaise Macquart, a good-natured and hardworking laundress who slides into alcoholism and despair.

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 Nana). But their happiness is short-lived as a freak accident leaves Coupeau seriously injured, beginning the family's fall into alcohol, desperation, and violence.

Disturbingly realistic, L'Assommoir is a vivid portrayal of life in late 19th-century Paris.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2019 Naxos AudioBooks

What listeners say about L'Assommoir [The Drinking Den]

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    12
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    13
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    10
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic

An incredible story, written with a poetic lucidity that will remain deep within memory, a tragic tale of the demon drink brought to life by the ever masterful Zola. Amazingly well read also. Bravo.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

The Drinking Den.

It is with sadness that we watch the descent of Gervaise Macquart, a loveable laundress, as she slides into alcoholism and despair, like many of those around her.

Her lover abandons her and their two children. Gervaise then marries a tin worker, Coupeau, a neighbour, and they rebuild their lives.

The two have a daughter, Anna (Zola's Nana).

However, happiness & prosperity don’t last. An accident leaves Coupeau seriously injured. Gervaise struggles, does the right thing by him, as she does by all, but the family starts it’s decline. Those who have been jealous of her, revel in her plight. Those who should have been expected to help, don’t!

Gervaise borrows money, all theirs has gone on his nursing, & she opens her own laundry, which at first is esteemed.

But nothing, it seems, can stop her decline into alcohol, desperation, and violence.

“Disturbingly realistic, L'Assommoir is a vivid portrayal of life in late 19th-century Paris.”

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

First Zola novel I have listened to

Thoroughly enjoyed this novel. For me I also really enjoyed the performance. Dramatic and devastating but brilliant.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great book, crappy translation

A fine, if relentlessly depressing novel, and very well read. It is however a dated and 'workmanlike' translation. To be honest I would have returned it, but there are no other versions available on Audible. I do wish Audible would list the exact edition/translation of texts - it makes an enormous difference...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!