Pierrotin’s rattling coucou carries a load of passengers out of Paris towards L’Isle-Adam, and the young Oscar Husson, eager to impress, brags about matters he knows nothing of. One of his fellow travellers is the Comte de Sérizy in disguise, whose steward Moreau is Oscar’s patron, and the boy’s loose tongue sets off a chain of consequences that shapes his whole career.
Balzac’s comedy of youthful vanity, and a fond portrait of the vanishing world of the pre-railway coach. Download the free EPUB.