A heartbroken cavalry officer, Auguste de Maulincour, is strolling through a rather seedy section of Paris when he happens to spot the object of his unrequited love, a married young woman named Clemence. Even more remarkable is the fact that he sees her furtively entering a house of ill repute. Aghast and yet intrigued, Auguste begins to follow Clemence—and what he witnesses plunges him into a world of deception and dark secrets.

Part of Balzac's masterpiece, the multi-volume story cycle The Human Comedy, the short story Study of a Woman focuses on Madame de Listomere, an uptight model of propriety, who finds herself being flirted with by the rapscallion Eugene de Rastignac, who has taken up the courtship as a lark.

Master of realism Honore de Balzac highlights his brilliant knack for character development in the short story Madame Firmiani. The story's plot is slight, dealing in large part with the mysterious identity of Madame Firmiani's husband. As always, where Balzac truly shines is in delving into the nuance of human behavior and personality.

This short vignette from Honore de Balzac, a key figure in French realism, is a story within a story. The narrator, Nathan, regales a pair of aristocratic ladies with stories about the Rusticoli family and its most prominent member, La Palferine. At first, his audience is unappreciative, but over time, they become wrapped up in the multi-generational saga.

In this novel, one of the last vestiges of a genteel family, the Marquis d'Esgrignon, tries to navigate the new social and cultural landscape that has emerged in France's post-revolutionary period. Even though he is surrounded by some of the signs of his family's former affluence, the Marquis is virtually penniless, and he finds it difficult to come to terms with his reduced station in life.

An extract from Honore de Balzac's sweeping novel cycle The Human Comedy, Gobseck is a novella that recounts the social ascendancy of young Anastasie de Restaud. Born into a wealthy family, Anastasie marries into aristocracy, but soon grows weary of the arcane rituals of her new lifestyle—not to mention her lack of feelings toward her husband. Seeking passion, she makes several bold decisions and quickly finds herself on the

This novel is part of the Scenes of Private Life section of Honore de Balzac's sweeping saga The Human Comedy. Renowned artist Theodore de Sommervieux falls head-over-heels in love with the beautiful, refined Augustine Guillaume, and soon the besotted pair are married. But after a blissful honeymoon period, the couple discovers that sometimes love is not enough to make a marriage work.

Though a relatively short story, A Man of Business is an important component of Honore de Balzac's vast story cycle The Human Comedy, involving many of the recurring characters from the series and tying up a number of loose ends. As a fete thrown at the home of his mistress begins to wind down, Cardot invites the lingering merrymakers to settle around the table and begins telling a story about a clever debt-collection scheme.

The novella The Hated Son is a section from French writer Honore de Balzac's multi-volume masterwork, The Human Comedy. Set in the late 1500s and early 1600s, the tale follows a newly married woman who is pregnant—and the baby's father is not her new husband. Terrified of what will become of herself and the child, she fears for both of their futures. The second part of the tale occurs several decades later. Will the illegitimate

Part of Honore de Balzac's sprawling epic The Human Comedy, the novella The Commission in Lunacy focuses on the story of a bachelor who feels his youth rapidly slipping away and tries to renew his sense of vigor and fulfillment through various means. He crosses paths with the beguiling Madame d'Espard and soon finds himself caught up in a nefarious scheme.