Splendours and Miseries of Courtesans

Lucien de Rubempré hopes to secure a place in fashionable Paris. His protector Vautrin, disguised as a Spanish priest, builds a scheme around the love of the courtesan Esther and the wealth of a banker. Lucien’s ambitions draw everyone involved into a dangerous exchange of affection, influence and money. Part of The Human Comedy, the novel connects aristocratic salons with the worlds of crime, policing and justice. Balzac explores the cost of social advancement and the vulnerability of sincere feeling in a society governed by appearances.