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Audiobook edition · 10 h 55 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if every wish you grant yourself takes away a piece of your life?
In Honoré de Balzac’s The Magic Skin, Raphaël de Valentin has good family connections but no money and little reason to live. In a crowded antique shop in Paris, an old dealer offers him a scrap of leather that grants whatever he desires. Each wish makes it smaller—and shortens his life.
An extravagant feast puts the bargain to the test. Around Raphaël, Balzac gathers gamblers, a wealthy countess named Foedora, and Pauline, who cares for him in poverty while he barely notices her. Money, ambition, and love press against a frightening question: how can he live without wanting?
What you’ll discover
- A bargain with teeth Watch a promise of limitless pleasure turn every ordinary wish into a threat.
- Paris in sharp detail Step among gambling tables, crowded curiosities, and lavish feasts where money shapes desire.
- Two contrasting women Meet the admired Foedora and kind Pauline, whose care Raphaël struggles to see.
- A life spent wanting Follow a harsh moral puzzle that makes pleasure and survival pull against each other.
- Fantasy meets close observation Discover how Balzac places a supernatural threat within the concrete habits of Parisian life.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this book if you like fable mixed with a vivid picture of a city, witty talk about money and love, and if you have wondered what your wishes really cost.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A ruined young man loses his last coin
- An antiques dealer offers a deadly bargain
- Every wish costs days of life
- A banquet shows a society that believes nothing
- A strict father, a lost fortune, an attic
- Foedora is a woman without a heart
- Wild living, heavy debts, and a sudden fortune
- He tries to live without wanting anything
- Science and medicine cannot stop the shrinking
- What the skin means and how it works
Who’s who
- Raphael de ValentinA gifted, poor young man who wants fame and love, and who takes a skin that grants wishes and takes his life in return.
- Pauline GaudinThe landlady's daughter who cares for Raphael in his attic, and who loves him with a steady, selfless devotion.
- FoedoraA beautiful, rich countess who attracts every admirer in Paris and loves none, and who wants only admiration.
- EmileA witty, lazy journalist and Raphael's loyal friend, who listens to the long story told at the banquet.
- RastignacA clever, worldly Gascon who teaches Raphael how society works and urges him into wild living.
- The antiques dealerA tiny old man of great learning who owns the talisman and offers it to a young man ready to die.
- JonathanRaphael's old servant, who runs the great house by strict rules and loves his master like a son.
- TailleferA rich banker who hosts the great feast, and who is rumored to have killed for his money.
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La piel de zapa
by Honoré de Balzac · 1831
A ruined young man takes a leather skin that grants every wish and shrinks with each one.
Medium level10–20 hours to readEspañol
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In short
Paris, October 1829. A young man in a worn hat climbs the stairs of a gambling den at the Palais-Royal with one gold coin in his hand.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A ruined young man loses his last coin
The novel opens at number 36 in the Palais-Royal, where a young man hands over his hat and walks into a gambling salon. The old players and the croupier feel a chill when he enters, because his face holds failure and a faded grace. Even these hardened gamblers pity him.
He throws down one gold coin. It lands on black. A young Italian bets his whole pile against it, red wins, and the croupier's rake sweeps the coin away. The young man's lips go pale, and he leaves without a plea for pity.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1831
- Language
- Español
- Reading time
- 7 h 5 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Balzac, Honoré de. The Magic Skin. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-magic-skin.
Balzac, H. de. (2026). The magic skin. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-magic-skin (Original work published 1831)
Balzac, Honoré de. The Magic Skin. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-magic-skin.
@book{balzac2026magic,
author = {Balzac, Honoré de},
title = {The Magic Skin},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-magic-skin},
note = {First published 1831}
}
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What is The Magic Skin about?
It tells of Raphael de Valentin, a ruined young man in Paris who receives a piece of leather that grants every wish but shrinks with each one, shortening his life. The story follows how he spends his wishes.
Who is Raphael de Valentin?
Raphael is the hero, a talented young writer from an old family, ruined by his father's lawsuits. He lives in an attic, loves the cold countess Foedora, and becomes rich through the skin.
What does the Magic Skin symbolize?
The skin stands for a human life and for desire itself. Each wish makes it smaller, so it shows how wanting and getting use up our time and strength, and how little of both we truly have.
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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