Part of La Comédie Humaine
First published 1998
Auguste de Maulincour spots Madame Jules Desmarets on a shadowy Paris street where respectable women never venture. His curiosity about her presence there sets off a deadly chain of events that draws him into conflict with Ferragus, the mysterious leader of a secret brotherhood known as the Thirteen. As Maulincour pursues the truth behind Madame Desmarets' suspicious behavior, he discovers that Ferragus will stop at nothing to protect his secrets. The young officer finds himself trapped between his desire to understand what he witnessed and the growing threat from this powerful underground figure. Balzac places his characters against the backdrop of post-revolutionary France, where old social orders crumble and new powers emerge from the shadows. The story explores how far people will go to guard their hidden lives and the price of curiosity in a world where knowledge can be fatal.
Genres: drama, classic-literature, french-literature, mystery, thriller, 19th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, gritty, mysterious, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: cat-and-mouse, dangerous-secrets, forbidden-knowledge, mystery-unraveling
Setting: Paris, France
Period: Post-Revolutionary France, 19th Century
271 pages · Paperback · Gallimard
Content warnings: death, violence