Lawton follows Balzac from his boyhood at Tours through disastrous ventures in printing and publishing to fame and the vast design of the Comédie Humaine. Much of the book draws on his long correspondence with Madame Hanska, the Polish countess he called the Stranger, while further chapters discuss the novels themselves.
A full, readable English life of Balzac for readers who want the man behind the novels. Download the free EPUB.