A former officer, Genestas, rides into a village near Grenoble to meet Doctor Benassis, who has spent years turning a wretched, goitre-ridden valley into a thriving town of roads, trades and farms. On his rounds Benassis explains his ideas of politics and social order, an old soldier tells the legend of Napoleon in the voice of the people, and finally the doctor confesses the sorrow that drove him there.
One of Balzac’s most idealistic novels, published in 1833 and translated here by Clara Bell and Ellen Marriage. Download the free EPUB.