In the sixteenth century the young Comtesse Jeanne d’Hérouville gives birth to a frail son whom her violent husband believes is not his own. Kept out of his father’s sight, Étienne grows up in a cottage by the sea, close to his mother and to nature, until the death of his brother makes him the heir and brings him face to face with love and his father’s will.
A dark, lyrical romance from Balzac’s Philosophical Studies, full of feeling for the sea and for a mother’s love. Download the free EPUB.