Cousin Bette

The Bette referred to in this magnificent novel''s title is Lisbeth Fischer an excruciatingly cunning poor relation who both depends upon and nurses a terrible grudge against the family of her beautiful cousin Adeline. That family is slowly being ruined by the uncontrollable sexual appetites of Adeline''s husband Baron Hulot - appetites that will in time give Cousin Bette opportunity to exact her vengeance. Balzac described Cousin Bette as one of his scenes of Parisian life and it is certainly that. It offers us a hypnotic vision of that infinitely varied city during the bright vital scandalous and sexually untrammeled era of King Louis-Philippe. The courtesans swindlers bankers artists murderers detectives and saints populating this world pass before us invested with a verve and vividness unsurpassed in the history of the novel.