9 h 19 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 19 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
In a town where everyone watches a doctor's fortune, what chance does a gentle orphan have against his hungry relatives?
In Honoré de Balzac's Ursula, retired Doctor Minoret lives in Nemours with his beloved ward, Ursula Mirouet. She finds comfort in music and faith. His relatives see something else: a girl who threatens their claim to his money. As his health weakens, their watchful patience gives way to bolder schemes.
Minoret-Levrault and his ambitious wife, Zelie Minoret, want to protect their hold on the fortune. Meanwhile, Savinien de Portenduere loves Ursula but faces his family's pride and debts. Around them, gossip shapes choices, a priest offers friendship, and a fair-minded magistrate stands for truth. Even the skeptical doctor begins to question his certainty about the unseen.
What you’ll discover
- An inheritance under threat Follow the struggle over promised money as family claims collide with Ursula's honesty.
- A town that watches Enter Nemours, where notaries, priests, clerks, and landowners give provincial life its sharp edges.
- Music and quiet strength Discover how Ursula's music connects her inner life to the father she hardly knew.
- A skeptic's changing mind Watch Doctor Minoret question the limits of what he can touch and explain.
- Love against family pride Meet a young nobleman whose love for Ursula must contend with pride and debt.
Who will love it
For readers who love moral tales with a strong sense of place, and anyone curious about Balzac’s world of provincial life, inheritance, faith and family intrigue.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A doctor and a girl in Nemours
- The relatives who wait for money
- A skeptic meets the unseen
- Ursula, music, and a young nobleman
- Greed moves against the innocent
- What the novel says and how it speaks
Who’s who
- Ursula MirouetA gentle, musical orphan raised by her guardian, she holds to her faith and her honesty while others scheme over the money she has been promised.
- Doctor MinoretAn elderly retired physician and skeptic who loves his ward deeply and slowly begins to doubt his own certainty about the unseen.
- Minoret-LevraultThe doctor's nephew, a prosperous post master who is stubborn and money-minded, and who sees Ursula as a threat to his family's claim.
- Zelie MinoretHis clever and ambitious wife, who pushes the family to protect and increase their hold on the doctor's fortune.
- Savinien de PortenduereA young nobleman of a fading family who falls in love with Ursula and must overcome the pride and debts of his house.
- The parish priestA kind, plain churchman and one of Ursula's closest friends, who supports her faith and stands by her when trouble comes.
- The justice of the peaceA decent local magistrate who values fairness and becomes one of the few townspeople willing to defend the truth.
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Úrsula
by Honoré de Balzac · 1841
In Nemours, a gentle orphan faces relatives hungry for her guardian's fortune, with kindness and honesty at stake.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEspañol
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In short
Ursula is a short novel by Honoré de Balzac, first published in France in 1841. It belongs to his huge cycle of stories called The Human Comedy, and it is set in the small town of Nemours.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A doctor and a girl in Nemours
The story opens in Nemours, a quiet town where everyone knows everyone else's business. Doctor Minoret is an elderly physician who has retired there after a long career in Paris. He is respected, comfortable and rather proud of his own unbelief. He has read the thinkers of the eighteenth century, and he trusts reason and the evidence of the senses.
In his house lives Ursula Mirouet, a young girl he has raised as his ward. She is the child of a gifted musician, and she has her father's love of music. The doctor treats her with tender care, though he does not share her simple religious feeling. He sees her as the last warmth left in his life.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1841
- Language
- Español
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Balzac, Honoré de. Ursula. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/ursula.
Balzac, H. de. (2026). Ursula. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/ursula (Original work published 1841)
Balzac, Honoré de. Ursula. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/ursula.
@book{balzac2026ursula,
author = {Balzac, Honoré de},
title = {Ursula},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/ursula},
note = {First published 1841}
}
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What is Ursula by Balzac about?
It tells of Ursula Mirouet, a gentle orphan in the town of Nemours, her skeptical guardian Doctor Minoret, and the greedy relatives who want his fortune. It mixes a struggle over inheritance with love, faith and mesmerism.
Where is Ursula set and when was it written?
The story takes place in Nemours, a small town south of Paris, in the France of Balzac's own day. It was first published in 1841 and is part of The Human Comedy.
Is Ursula part of The Human Comedy?
Yes. Balzac placed it among his Scenes of Provincial Life, within the larger cycle of The Human Comedy. It shares that cycle's interest in money, class and the way society shapes character.
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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