7 h 31 minAudiobook5 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 happens to love in a house where every coin matters more than a human heart?
In Saumur, a quiet town on the Loire, Félix Grandet rules his household through money and fear. His daughter Eugénie grows up sheltered beside her obedient mother and their loyal servant, Nanon. Outside their door, rival families seek the heiress’s fortune. Inside, her father’s wealth brings little warmth.
Then Charles Grandet arrives from Paris, and Eugénie’s narrow world begins to open. As she discovers love and the wish to give, her generosity comes up against her father’s greed. Honoré de Balzac builds this family drama through rooms, clothes, habits and accounts, showing how money presses into the most private feelings.
What you’ll discover
- A house ruled by gold Step inside a wealthy household where a miser’s habits shape everyone’s daily life.
- An awakening heart Follow Eugénie as love draws her beyond the limits of her sheltered upbringing.
- Rivals around an heiress Watch two local families pursue a marriage with Eugénie and access to her fortune.
- Quiet bonds of care Meet Madame Grandet and Nanon, whose love and loyalty stand beside Eugénie.
- A world in details Discover how furniture, clothing and accounts reveal the power of money over feeling.
Who will love it
For readers who love detailed realism, family dramas about money, and the roots of the modern novel. Eugénie's story explores greed, generosity, and love in a household ruled by a miser.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A dark house in a quiet town
- How Grandet built his fortune
- Two families circle the heiress
- A birthday and a cousin from Paris
- The letter that brings disaster
- Eugénie learns to love and to give
- A promise made and a storm to come
- What money does to love and family
- How Balzac tells the story
Who’s who
- Eugénie GrandetThe gentle, sheltered daughter of the house, who has never known love and gives her heart and her savings to her cousin.
- Félix GrandetA former barrel maker turned rich winegrower and mayor, who rules his family and counts every coin.
- Madame GrandetGrandet's pale, pious and obedient wife, who lives in fear of her husband and loves her daughter quietly.
- NanonThe strong, loyal servant who has worked in the house for years and would do anything for Eugénie.
- Charles GrandetA fashionable young Parisian and Eugénie's cousin, who arrives in Saumur unaware of the ruin awaiting his family.
- Cruchot de BonfonsA stiff local judge, nephew of the notary, who is determined to win Eugénie and her fortune.
- Madame des GrassinsThe lively wife of the town banker, who hopes to marry her son to the Grandet heiress.
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Eugénie Grandet
by Honoré de Balzac · 1833
A cousin arrives from Paris, awakening love in Eugénie's sheltered life under her miserly father's rule.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
A miser's house can be a whole world. In Eugénie Grandet, published in 1833, Honoré de Balzac leaves Paris behind and goes to the quiet town of Saumur on the Loire.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A dark house in a quiet town
Balzac opens with a place. Saumur is an old town on the Loire, and at the end of one narrow street stands the Grandet house, gloomy and damp, with barred windows and a heavy door.
Inside, the main room is cold and barely lit. The staircase is rotten, and Grandet repairs a broken step himself. Madame Grandet is pale and timid. Nanon, the servant, is tireless and loyal.
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What is Eugénie Grandet about?
It tells of a sheltered young woman in the town of Saumur whose miserly father rules the household. When her cousin Charles arrives from Paris in trouble, her love for him tests her father's greed and her own courage.
When was Eugénie Grandet written and is it a true story?
Balzac published it in 1833. It is a work of fiction, though it draws on real provincial life in the Loire region after the French Revolution.
Where does Eugénie Grandet fit in The Human Comedy?
It belongs to Balzac's cycle of linked novels called The Human Comedy, in the section Scenes from Provincial Life. The cycle portrays French society across classes, places and professions in the early nineteenth century.
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.
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