Heath's Modern Language Series. Cinq Scènes de La Comédie Humaine: Selected and Edited with Introduction and Notes

The five finest works of Honoré de Balzac, the great 19th-century French novelist, are now available in this convenient anthology. Cinq Scènes comprise "The Lost Illusions," a trilogy on the aspirations and failures of young men; "The Conscience," which describes how the ambitions of selfless women are thwarted; "The Black Sheep," in which a corrupt minister is exposed for his crimes against humanity; "The Unlucky Woman," about fate and the ultimate triumph of love over jealousy; and "A Passion in the Desert," an adventure story inspired by real events during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt.