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Audiobook edition · 12 h 11 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a mother's deepest love goes to the son who takes the most from her?
In Honoré de Balzac's The Two Brothers, Agathe Bridau lives on little in Paris after Napoleon's fall. Her elder son, Philippe, is a swaggering soldier without pay or a place in the new order. Joseph, her younger son, paints and quietly supports the family. Yet Agathe's affection does not follow their deeds.
Far away in Issoudun, Agathe's timid brother, Jean-Jacques Rouget, holds a fortune that might help her family. But Flore Brazier runs his household and wants to keep its comforts. Maxence Gilet, a veteran who leads the troublesome Knights of Idleness, also eyes the money. Family hopes meet rivals with ambitions of their own.
What you’ll discover
- Two sons, unequal love Watch a mother's devotion reward the son who wastes it and overlook the one who gives.
- A fortune under pressure Enter a household where a timid man's wealth draws competing claims and determined rivals.
- Mischief in Issoudun Meet the Knights of Idleness, whose cruel sport turns a provincial town into their playground.
- A society in detail Explore rooms, clothes, debts, and habits that reveal how Balzac's people live and what they value.
- The price of affection Follow a family that uses money to measure love, while patience and generosity go unrecognized.
Who will love it
For readers who love big social novels, family quarrels over money, and sharp portraits of a whole society, with painters, soldiers and rival claims to a family fortune.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A widow's two sons, two roads
- A rich inheritance in Issoudun
- The Knights of Idleness make mischief
- Philippe falls, Joseph rises
- What the novel says about money and love
- How Balzac builds his world
Who’s who
- Agathe BridauA poor Paris widow who spoils her elder son and misjudges her younger one, while hoping for help from her family's inheritance.
- Philippe BridauThe elder son, a swaggering soldier of Napoleon's army who is bold, charming and willing to take what he wants.
- Joseph BridauThe younger son, a painter who works patiently in poverty and quietly supports his family.
- Jean-Jacques RougetAgathe's timid brother in Issoudun, a wealthy bachelor who is ruled by his household.
- Flore BrazierThe rabouilleuse, a beautiful and determined young woman who runs the Rouget house and wants to keep its comfort.
- Maxence GiletKnown as Max, a veteran soldier and leader of the Knights of Idleness, who has his eye on the Rouget fortune.
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- Audiobook
- 12 h 11 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Die beiden Brüder
by Honoré de Balzac · 1842
A widow's two sons, a loyal painter and a reckless soldier, face a struggle over a family fortune in Issoudun.
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In short
The Two Brothers is a novel by Honoré de Balzac, set in Paris and in the provincial town of Issoudun in the years after Napoleon's fall. It is also known in English as The Black Sheep, and in French as La Rabouilleuse.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A widow's two sons, two roads
The story opens with Agathe Bridau, a widow living in Paris on very little. Her husband was a government clerk, and his death left her short of money and short of help. She has two sons, Philippe and Joseph, and the book begins by showing how differently she treats them.
Philippe, the elder, is a soldier who served under Napoleon. He is handsome, loud and sure of himself, and his mother adores him. She sees in him the glory of the old Empire and forgives him almost anything. Joseph, the younger, is quiet, thin and odd looking. He wants to be a painter, and his mother thinks he is wasting his life.
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What is The Two Brothers by Balzac about?
It is about a Paris widow and her two sons, a loyal painter and a reckless soldier, and the struggle over a family fortune held by a weak relative in the town of Issoudun.
Is The Two Brothers the same as La Rabouilleuse or The Black Sheep?
Yes. Balzac wrote it in French as La Rabouilleuse. English translators have used different titles, including The Black Sheep and The Two Brothers, for the same novel.
What does rabouilleuse mean?
It is a local word for a girl who stirs the water of streams to drive crayfish into her net. It becomes the nickname of Flore Brazier, who began life as a poor country girl.
The author
Honoré de Balzac
1799–1850 · French novelist
Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright born in Tours in 1799. He lived and worked in Paris, where he died in 1850. He wrote The Magic Skin in 1831, Eugénie Grandet in 1833, and Father Goriot in 1835. Many of his works belong to La Comédie humaine.
More by Honoré de Balzac
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