10 h 40 minAudiobook8 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 if the poet you love is not the man putting his heart into your letters?
In Le Havre, Modeste Mignon lives quietly by the sea, filling her mind with romances and dreams of grand passion. She chooses Melchior de Canalis, a celebrated Paris poet she knows only through his verse, and writes to him in secret. But the replies come from someone else.
Ernest de la Brière, Canalis's modest and sensitive helper, answers with feelings of his own. Around Modeste, family guardians and suitors have plans for her future. In Honoré de Balzac's romance, the search for love meets the claims of money, rank and reputation. How can she judge a heart when fame makes such a dazzling disguise?
What you’ll discover
- A dream fed by novels Meet a bright young woman who expects love to be as grand as poetry.
- Letters with hidden hearts Follow a secret correspondence where the name on the page conceals the person behind it.
- Fame against quiet honesty Watch Canalis's pride and love of flattery stand beside Ernest's modest, heartfelt devotion.
- Guardians with their own plans Enter a household where fierce care for Modeste also means guarding the family's honor.
- Love under society's gaze Discover how fortune, class and reputation complicate the wish to know and love someone.
Who will love it
For readers who enjoy a love story with a sharp eye for money, class and vanity, and anyone curious about letters as a way to fall in love.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A ruined family waits in Le Havre
- Modeste lives inside her novels
- A secret letter goes to Paris
- A secretary answers and falls in love
- Guardians and suitors close in
- What the novel says about love and money
Who’s who
- Modeste MignonA bright, romantic young woman in Le Havre who has read too many novels and longs for a love as grand as poetry.
- Melchior de CanalisA celebrated Paris poet, proud of his fame and fond of flattery, who receives Modeste's secret letters.
- Ernest de la BrièreA modest, honest young man who helps Canalis and answers Modeste's letters, putting his own heart into them.
- Charles MignonModeste's father, a ruined man of former rank who has gone abroad to rebuild the family fortune.
- DumayA loyal old soldier and friend of Charles Mignon who guards the family and its honor with fierce care.
- ButschaA small, clever clerk to the notary, who admires Modeste with quiet devotion and sees more than he says.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 10 h 40 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 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.
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Modeste Mignon
by Honoré de Balzac · 1844
A young woman in Le Havre sends secret letters to a famous poet, staking her heart on replies he does not write.
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In short
Modeste Mignon is a novel by Honoré de Balzac, published in 1844 and set in the port of Le Havre and in Paris. It belongs to his huge series The Human Comedy, in the group he called scenes of private life.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A ruined family waits in Le Havre
The story opens in Le Havre, the busy Atlantic port at the mouth of the Seine. Modeste lives there with her mother in a house called the Chalet. Her father, Charles Mignon, was once a rich man with a title, but he lost his fortune and went abroad to rebuild it. The women he left behind live on hope and on the loyalty of others.
The chief guardian of the household is Dumay, an old soldier who served alongside Charles. He is a stern, honest man who has promised to watch over the family while his friend is away. His wife shares the duty. Together they run the house like a small garrison, and Modeste is the treasure they must protect.
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What is Modeste Mignon about?
It tells of a young woman in Le Havre who falls in love with a famous poet through his work and writes to him in secret. The letters lead to a tangle of mistaken hopes among her family and suitors.
Who is Modeste Mignon in Balzac's novel?
She is the daughter of the Mignon family, who lives in the Chalet at Le Havre. She is about nineteen, intelligent and romantic, and shaped by the novels she reads while her father is abroad.
When was Modeste Mignon written and is it a true story?
Balzac published it in 1844. It is fiction, but it echoes his own life, because he dedicated it to Evelina Hanska, who had first contacted him as an unknown admirer.
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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