Initially, Felix in enraged to learn that Eugenie gave her money to Charles and sequesters her in her room. Felix pays off only about half of his brother’s debts, collects the bills of exchange, and sells them for a profit, effectively cheating the creditors. However, des Grassins overhears of this plan and offers to make the trip on his own dime, which Felix accepts. Cruchot offers to go to Paris to make the arrangements if Felix will agree to pay his expenses. Before he leaves, Charles entrusts Eugenie with a small cabinet containing pictures of his departed parents.įelix tells Cruchot des Bonfons that, to spare the family the shame of a bankruptcy, he has decided to liquidate his brother’s business.

Eugenie gives Charles her own gold coins to help him get started in his ventures abroad. Charles and Eugenie fall in love and secretly become engaged, planning to marry upon Charles’ return to France. Unwilling to support the spoiled and lazy Charles in his home, Felix resolves to send him away to make his own fortune overseas. Unbeknownst to Charles, the letter is his father’s suicide note he has chosen to kill himself because he has gone bankrupt. One day in 1819, Felix’s nephew Charles arrives out of the blue from Paris carrying a letter from his father for Felix. Aware that both suitors are primarily after the fortune Eugenie stands to inherit, Felix pits the two families against each other to his own advantage. The second, President Cruchot des Bonfons, is Felix’s lawyer’s nephew. The first, Adolphe, is the son of Felix’s banker, des Grassins. Eugenie, who is as closely protected by her father as his treasured wealth, has two primary suitors whose families make frequent visits to the house. Felix has a reputation as a miser and the family-consisting of Felix, his wife, their daughter, Eugenie, and a servant, Nanon-lives in an old house that has become run-down because Felix refuses to spend the money needed to make repairs. Felix Grandet used to work as a cooper (someone who makes and repairs casks and barrels) but became suddenly wealthy after he inherited three estates in one year and undertook several successful business ventures.

The story takes place in the town of Saumur in Western France. The novel’s revised second edition was dedicated to Balzac’s lover Maria Du Fresnay-it was later revealed that the character Eugenie was based on their daughter, Marie-Caroline Du Fresnay. Published in 1833, Eugenie Grandet tells the story of a young woman whose wealthy but tightfisted father tries to arrange the most financially advantageous marriage for her when she falls in love with her penniless cousin. Eugenie Grandet was the first of the interlinked novels included in nineteenth-century French author Honoré de Balzac’s multi-volume collection, La Comedie Humaine, telling stories ranging from the Restoration through the July Monarchy era of French society, which, according to Balzac, was consumed by the desire for wealth and power.

Honoré de balzac eugenie grandet