Honoré de Balzac

Un narrateur découvre les ruines d'un manoir abandonné, marqué par une tragédie passée. L'histoire racontée révèle qu'une femme adultère a laissé mourir son amant, emmuré vivant par son mari jaloux.

This is a heart-wrenching story of a man driven to poverty by the selfless acts and the overwhelming love and devotion that he has for his two daughters....

Life has the capacity of great moments and attainment, of lives well lived, fulfilling for ourselves and for those we touch. But for others life is arduous. There is no spark to ignite the curiosity, to explore and achieve a stability and a growth to their lives....

Nine spine-chilling stories from Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Jerome K. Jerome....

Impoverished young aristocrat Eugene de Rastignac is determined to climb the social ladder and impress himself on Parisian high society. He encounters Jean-Joachim Goriot, a retired vermicelli maker....

Hailed as the father of the naturalist novel, French author and playwright Honoré de Balzac left a legacy of treasured literary works that include Père Goriot and Cousin Bette....

In the brutal Prussian winter of 1807, Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte’s Grande Armée suffered massive losses to the Russians in the Battle of Eylau. Many thousands died. Young Colonel Chabert falls heroically, his actions having turned the tide of the battle....

Lisbeth Fischer has lived in the shadow of her beautiful cousin Adeline for much of her life. Pampered while Lisbeth works in the fields, Adeline makes an enviable leap in status when Baron Hulot offers her his hand in marriage....

Inspiré à Balzac par son expérience dans l'imprimerie, Illusions perdues raconte l'échec de Lucien de Rubempré, jeune provincial épris de gloire littéraire...

At the shabby boarding house in the rue Neuve-Sainte-Geneviève, petty Madame Vauquer and her tenants wonder at the plight of the aging resident Goriot....

Voici donc l'histoire de ce père Goriot, vermicellien ayant fait fortune et qui, tel l'Albatros de Baudelaire, se déchirera les entrailles pour élever ses enfants...

One of the greatest of French novelists, Balzac, trained as a lawyer, was a great judge of human nature....

The Bette referred to in this magnificent novel's title is Lisbeth Fischer, an excruciatingly cunning poor relation who both depends upon and nurses a terrible grudge....

Balzac’s universally loved novel explores the great theme of money and its effect on the human character....

C'est le premier portrait de femme profondément destructrice, rancunière et laide que Balzac ait produit. Elle se voit apparentée à un animal malfaisant...

Brothers Philippe and Joseph Bridau are completely unalike: Philippe, braggart and soldier, formerly aide-de-camp to Napoleon, is their mother Agathe's favorite; Joseph, a poor and aspiring artist, is raised in his brother's shadow....

Honore de Balzac's classic book of revenge and passion in which the title character Bette plots the destruction of various men including her cousin-in-law, Baron Hector Hulot....

Una bellísima cortesana, casi adolescente y enamorada, un poeta-vividor, también enamorado, y un ex convicto serán los personajes centrales de esta novela que, aunque escrita con estilo irregular....

This brilliant collection of France’s foremost nineteenth-century novelist and playwright delivers four of his most fascinating works - stories of love, rivalry, horror and adventure - all brought to life by a stellar cast included Stephen Fry and Alex Kingston....

"The possession of power, no matter how enormous, does not bring the knowledge how to use it"...