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Audiobook edition · 12 h 18 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What is an honest name worth when your whole world runs on credit?
In Paris under the restored monarchy, Cesar Birotteau sells scents and cosmetics and takes pride in his rising position. Honest, devout and rather vain, he longs for honours beyond his shop. His wife, Constance, watches his ambitions with concern: she knows what their household can bear.
Cesar trusts the notary Roguin with his affairs, while his former employee Du Tillet pursues a career in finance without loyalty to him. Credit rests on reputation, and reputation rests on belief. As ambition brings danger, the family's standing and daughter Cesarine's future become part of the stakes.
What you’ll discover
- A shopkeeper with grand hopes Meet a decent man whose hunger for recognition tests the limits of his judgment.
- A household under strain See Constance weigh her husband's dreams against the practical needs of their home.
- The machinery of credit Explore a Paris where banking, trade and public standing depend on other people's trust.
- Loyalty beside ambition Discover Anselme Popinot's honest effort alongside Du Tillet's clever pursuit of financial success.
- A city examined closely Follow Balzac through streets, shops and laws that shape the fortunes of his characters.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy family stories with moral stakes, sharp portraits of shopkeepers and bankers, and plots built on money, pride and loyalty.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A nightmare and a plan for a ball
- A peasant boy becomes a respected perfumer
- A clerk's hatred grows into a plot
- A young clerk and a bottle of oil
- A splendid ball and a mountain of bills
- The notary vanishes and the ground gives way
- Every banker says no and one word wounds
- The family accepts the fall and begins again
- What the novel says about honor and ambition
- How Balzac tells the tale of a shopkeeper
Who’s who
- Cesar BirotteauA kind, proud perfumer and deputy mayor who wants to rise in society and dreams of a better life for his family.
- Constance BirotteauCesar's careful wife, a former shop assistant, who fears every risk and holds the family's accounts together.
- CesarineTheir lovely daughter, who loves her parents and Anselme Popinot and wants a quiet life of happiness.
- Anselme PopinotA shy, lame, hardworking young clerk who loves Cesarine and builds a business around Cesar's hair oil.
- Ferdinand du TilletA clever former clerk who wants wealth and revenge against the man who once caught him stealing.
- Claude-Joseph PilleraultConstance's uncle, a stern retired ironmonger who gives wise counsel and shelter to his family.
- RoguinA Paris notary who holds the family's savings and gambles away other people's trust to pay for a mistress.
- MolineuxA tiny, fussy landlord who loves the law and enjoys bullying tenants and debtors.
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Histoire de la grandeur et de la décadence de César Birotteau
by Honoré de Balzac · 1837
A perfumer plans a grand ball and a land deal while his wife dreams of herself begging at their door.
Medium level10–20 hours to readfrançais
Excellent
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In short
Madame Birotteau wakes at one in the morning from a nightmare. She has seen herself in rags, begging at the door of her own perfume shop.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A nightmare and a plan for a ball
The novel opens in the bedroom above the shop called The Queen of Roses. Constance Birotteau cannot find her husband, and her fear runs through every worst case. Then she finds him in the next room, calculating the size of a future drawing room.
Cesar explains his plan in one burst. The government has made him a deputy mayor, and tomorrow the king will make him a knight of the Legion of Honor. He wants a ball and a grand new home. He also has a dangerous second scheme. His notary, Roguin, has offered him a share in cheap land near the Madeleine church, to be paid with the family savings, a loan and notes. Cesar will also launch a hair oil, and he is sure the profits will cover everything.
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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
- 1837
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 8 h 0 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Balzac, Honoré de. Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/rise-and-fall-of-cesar-birotteau.
Balzac, H. de. (2026). Rise and fall of Cesar Birotteau. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/rise-and-fall-of-cesar-birotteau (Original work published 1837)
Balzac, Honoré de. Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/rise-and-fall-of-cesar-birotteau.
@book{balzac2026rise,
author = {Balzac, Honoré de},
title = {Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/rise-and-fall-of-cesar-birotteau},
note = {First published 1837}
}
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What is Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau about?
It tells of a Paris perfumer who is honored by the king and gives a grand ball, then loses his fortune through a notary's theft and a former clerk's revenge. He and his family then work to repay their debts.
Who is du Tillet in Cesar Birotteau?
Ferdinand du Tillet is Cesar's former head clerk, who stole money from him and was forgiven. He becomes a banker and plans Cesar's ruin, driven by shame and a wish for revenge.
What is Cephalic Oil in the novel?
It is a hair oil Cesar invents and gives to young Anselme Popinot to sell. Its clever advertising and honest scientific claims make it a success, and it becomes the family's hope.
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
Voir tous ses livresMore like this
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