14 h 41 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 14 h 41 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when thirteen men promise each other everything—and answer to no law but their own?
In Honoré de Balzac’s The Thirteen, a secret brotherhood reaches into lives that seem far beyond its grasp. These three linked tales—Ferragus, The Duchess of Langeais, and The Girl with the Golden Eyes—move through Parisian salons, dark streets, and hidden houses. Love meets a power that owes no one an explanation.
In Ferragus, Auguste de Maulincour watches Clémence Desmarets, whose unexplained errands threaten her husband Jules’s trust. Antoinette, Duchess of Langeais, keeps General Armand de Montriveau at bay through cruel flirtation. Elsewhere, Henri de Marsay pursues the closely guarded Paquita Valdès. Each story asks what happens when desire meets a will that accepts no limits.
What you’ll discover
- An oath without limits Meet a brotherhood whose promise of absolute loyalty makes private lives dangerously vulnerable.
- Trust under pressure Follow a loving marriage as secret errands give rumour and doubt room to grow.
- Flirtation turns cruel Enter a world where rank and manners shape a duchess’s game with a soldier.
- Desire behind locked doors Trace Henri de Marsay’s pursuit of Paquita, a young woman kept hidden and closely watched.
- A city laid bare See Paris through Balzac’s sharp portraits of exhausted workers, shopkeepers, lawyers, artists, and the rich.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you love Paris, secret societies, stories of obsession and revenge, and vivid portraits of streets and salons. It suits readers who like romance with real danger.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Secret loyalty stands above the law
- Jealousy turns a walk into pursuit
- The watcher becomes a target
- Silence makes love distrust itself
- A convent separates two lovers
- Courtship becomes a contest for power
- Henri mistakes desire for conquest
- A secret meeting hides another power
- Hidden power meets an unbending will
Who’s who
- Auguste de MaulincourA young cavalry officer who loves Madame Jules in secret and sets out to uncover the mystery of her hidden errands.
- Clemence DesmaretsThe gentle wife of a broker, known as Madame Jules, who is bound to a secret she dares not share with her husband.
- Jules DesmaretsA hardworking broker who adores his wife and is torn between trust and the suspicion that Maulincour plants in him.
- FerragusA feared figure with many names, once chief of the Devorants guild, who protects his hidden purposes with disguise and cunning.
- The Duchesse de LangeaisA proud, witty beauty of the Faubourg Saint-Germain who enjoys admiration and wants love without giving herself.
- Armand de MontriveauA strong, silent soldier who survived African captivity and falls into love for the first time with total seriousness.
- Henri de MarsayA beautiful, unbelieving young dandy who treats women as conquests and decides to win the girl with the golden eyes.
- Paquita ValdesA guarded young woman with golden eyes, kept behind high walls and a watchful duenna, who longs for a life of her own.
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The Thirteen in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Thirteen
by Honoré de Balzac · 1835
A secret band of thirteen men rules Paris from the shadows, and three tales show what their power does to love.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“A writer of the 20th century may also, on occasion, feel imprisoned by his time, and reading the great 19th century novelists – Balzac, Dickens, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky – may bring on a certain nostalgia.”
In short
A band of thirteen men lives in Paris under Napoleon. They are sworn to help one another in any scheme, and they hold secret power in every salon, strongbox and street.
The Thirteen at a glance
- Reading time
- About 8 h 20 min6 h 40 min fast, 10 h slow
- Length
- 119,500 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1835by Honoré de Balzac
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Thirteen unknown kings share one will
Balzac opens with a preface that sounds like a legend. Thirteen men in the Paris of the Empire swear loyalty to one another above every law. They hide the bond so well that nobody knows who they are.
The idea comes to one of them while he rereads the play Venice Preserved. He admires the friendship of outlaws. He wonders what a few chosen men could do if they joined money, education and talent with fanatical devotion.
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Details
- First published
- 1835
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 9 h 30 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Balzac, Honoré de. The Thirteen. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-thirteen.
Balzac, H. de. (2026). The thirteen. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-thirteen (Original work published 1835)
Balzac, Honoré de. The Thirteen. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-thirteen.
@book{balzac2026thirteen,
author = {Balzac, Honoré de},
title = {The Thirteen},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-thirteen},
note = {First published 1835}
}
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What is The Thirteen by Balzac about?
It is a set of three linked tales about Paris under the shadow of a secret brotherhood of thirteen men. Each tale follows a passionate love story: Ferragus, The Duchess of Langeais and The Girl with the Golden Eyes.
Who is Ferragus in The Thirteen?
Ferragus is the title of the head of a guild of journeymen called the Devorants. In the first tale, the name belongs to a mysterious man with many disguises who is connected to Madame Jules and to the young officer Maulincour.
Do you need to read the other Human Comedy novels first?
No. The Thirteen stands on its own, with a preface that explains the premise. Characters such as Henri de Marsay and Baron de Nucingen also appear in other Balzac books, but you can follow each story from scratch.
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.
“Passions are the best police.”
More by Honoré de Balzac
See all their booksMore like this
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