Eugénie Grandet

by Honoré de Balzac

"Eugénie Grandet" by Honoré de Balzac is a novel published in 1834. Set in provincial France, it follows the young Eugénie Grandet, daughter of the miserly Felix Grandet, whose extreme parsimony controls every aspect of his household. When Eugénie's Parisian cousin Charles arrives seeking help after his father's bankruptcy and suicide, her act of compassion toward him ignites her father's rage. The novel explores how money corrupts relationships and destroys lives in post-Revolutionary France, where wealth determines social position and human connections.