num_pages: 490
description: Cousin Bette (1846), long considered Balzac's last great novel, is a key work in his Comedie humaine. Grounded in a meticulous documentation of contemporary France, this tale is set in the prosperous Paris of Louis-Phillipe and details a jealous woman's campaign of persecution against her own family. This new translation has an introduction by David Bellos which sets this work in its social, historical, and literary context.
language: English
title: Cousin Bette
titlecomplete: Cousin Bette (Oxford World's Classics)
characters: Valérie Marneffe, Baron Hector Hulot, Bette, Wenceslas Steinbock
genres: Literature, Novels, French Literature, 19th Century, Classics, Classic Literature, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Literary Fiction, France
ratings_count: 9746
places: Paris
series: La Comédie Humaine, Études de mœurs : Scènes de la vie parisienne, Poor Relations
publisher: Oxford University Press