11 h 44 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does it cost to rise in a city where money opens doors and love empties pockets?
In Paris in 1819, poor law student Eugène de Rastignac wants to make his name. His home is the shabby Maison Vauquer, but his eyes turn toward glittering drawing rooms. With his cousin Madame de Beauséant as his guide, he begins to learn what fashionable society demands.
Down the hall lives Father Goriot, a retired pasta merchant who gives nearly everything to his daughters, Anastasie and Delphine. As Rastignac watches the old man's devotion, another lodger offers a harsher lesson. Vautrin believes success belongs to those who ignore the rules. Between ambition and affection, every choice carries a cost.
What you’ll discover
- A city hungry for status Follow the struggle between old titles and new money through Parisian drawing rooms.
- A father's costly love Meet Goriot, whose devotion to his daughters leaves him with almost nothing.
- Ambition under pressure Watch Rastignac learn society's rules while trying to find his own way forward.
- Vautrin's dangerous appeal Encounter a cheerful, worldly lodger whose advice puts the price of success in sharp focus.
- Rooms that reveal lives Enter damp halls and glittering salons where furniture, manners, and money reveal social rank.
Who will love it
For readers who love social novels full of money, ambition and sharp portraits of a whole city, and anyone curious about Balzac and The Human Comedy.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A shabby boarding house holds a whole society
- A young man arrives with hunger in his eyes
- Goriot's secret visitors and strange habits
- A blunder in a countess's drawing room
- Vautrin teaches the cynical lesson plainly
- What a father will give, and what he is asked
- Rastignac and Delphine draw closer
- A dangerous offer and a house in decline
- What the novel says about love, money and Paris
- How Balzac tells it, from rooms to the whole city
Who’s who
- Eugène de RastignacA young law student from a poor noble family in the south, he wants to rise in Paris society.
- Father GoriotA retired pasta merchant who lives in the boarding house and has given nearly everything he owns to his two daughters.
- VautrinA hearty, worldly lodger with a hidden past, who believes success in Paris belongs to those who ignore the rules.
- Delphine de NucingenGoriot's younger daughter, married to a banker, lonely and eager for love and a place in fashionable society.
- Anastasie de RestaudGoriot's elder daughter, a countess whose household and love affair keep her in constant need of money.
- Madame de BeauséantRastignac's cousin, a Vicomtesse at the center of high society, who teaches him how the world works.
- Madame VauquerThe widow who runs the boarding house and judges every lodger by what he can pay.
- Victorine TailleferA gentle, poor young lodger whose wealthy father refuses to recognize her.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 11 h 44 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- 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.
eBooks and audiobooks open right away. Download EPUB or PDF, or send the book to your Kindle. Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear Papá Goriot in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Papá Goriot
by Honoré de Balzac · 1835
In a shabby Paris boarding house, a poor law student learns what a place in society costs those who love him.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
Father Goriot is a novel by Honoré de Balzac, first published in 1835. It is set in Paris in 1819, just after the fall of Napoleon, when old titles and new money are fighting for the same drawing rooms.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A shabby boarding house holds a whole society
The novel opens with a portrait of the Maison Vauquer, a boarding house in a poor district of Paris. Balzac describes the damp walls, the greasy dining room, the smell of old cooking and the worn furniture. He does this on purpose. For him, a place shapes the people who live in it, and the house is a small model of the world outside.
The owner is Madame Vauquer, a widow who watches every candle and every slice of bread. She is a shrewd woman who judges people by what they can pay. Her boarders pay little and receive little, and she feeds them just enough to keep them from leaving. Over the years she has learned to read every lodger by the state of his coat.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Papá Goriot
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Father Goriot about?
It follows a young law student, Rastignac, learning how ambition works in 1819 Paris, while he lives beside an old man who has given all his money to two daughters who barely visit him.
Is Father Goriot part of The Human Comedy?
Yes. Balzac placed it in his large series of linked novels about French society. Characters such as Rastignac and Vautrin appear again in other books of the series.
When was Father Goriot written and where is it set?
Balzac published it in 1835. The story is set in 1819, in Paris, mainly in a boarding house on the Rue Neuve-Sainte-Geneviève and in the fashionable salons of the city.
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
All 25 booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
