"Eugénie Grandet" by Honoré de Balzac, summary Automatic translate

The novel "Eugénie Grandet," written in 1833, reveals the pernicious power of money over the human soul and the depths of unrequited love. The work is distinguished by the realistic precision of its portraits, where the everyday stinginess of the French provinces is contrasted with the uncompromising spiritual purity of the protagonist. The book is part of the grand cycle "The Human Comedy," ranking in the "Scenes from Provincial Life" category. The novel has been adapted for the silver screen several times, and the 1946 Italian film adaptation directed by Mario Soldati won two Italian Silver Ribbon awards.

The Grandet family’s life in Saumur

The action begins in the autumn of 1819 in the quiet provincial town of Saumur. A gloomy old house on the upper street belongs to Félix Grandet. A former cooper, he amassed a huge fortune during the Revolution of 1789 by purchasing the monastery vineyards and the Froidefond estate for three million francs and is considered the richest man in the district. His fortune is estimated at millions of francs, yet his household is governed by strict frugality.

Old Grande personally distributes every piece of bread, lump of sugar, and candle. The entire family — his quiet wife, his twenty-three-year-old daughter Eugenia, and his faithful, tall maid Nanette — submits to their master’s strict will. The household does not buy meat or bread, receiving supplies from the tenants.

Constant intrigue surrounds the wealthy heiress Eugénie. Two influential factions in the city compete to marry the girl off to their respective candidates. The Cruchot faction is led by the presiding judge, de Bonnefons, while the de Grassens faction is led by a local banker, who is eyeing his son Adolphe as her husband.

The arrival of a cousin from the capital and a family disaster

On Eugénie’s birthday in November 1819, townspeople gather at the house, bringing modest gifts. Suddenly, a young Parisian, Charles Grandet, the host’s nephew, knocks on the door. The elegant twenty-two-year-old, dressed in exquisite clothes, looks like a visitor from another world amid the sparse provincial surroundings.

Charles brings a letter from his father, Guillaume Grandet. Upon opening the message, Félix learns that his Parisian brother has lost four million francs due to the collapse of his notary and brokerage business and intends to shoot himself. Guillaume begs his brother to take care of Charles and send the young man to India to earn money.

The next morning, Félix Grandet announces his father’s death to his nephew. Charles is plunged into deep grief. Eugénie, touched by her cousin’s misfortune, falls in love with him at first sight, feeling compassion and tenderness for him.

The cherished treasure and the oath of allegiance

Old Grandet intends to send Charles to India, paying only for the passage to Nantes. He refused to pay his brother’s debts, considering bankruptcy a disgrace. Seeing her cousin’s dire situation, Eugénie decides to secretly hand over her personal savings to him.

The girl kept rare gold coins — Portuguese and Genoese ducats, Spanish pistoles, Dutch ducats, and Great Mogul rupees, amounting to about six thousand francs. That night, she came to Charles’s room and gave him a purse of gold for his start-up capital. Impressed by her generosity, Charles left Eugénie his most prized possession — his mother’s gold vanity case with portraits of his parents — for safekeeping.

The lovers exchange vows of fidelity and their first kiss. The next morning, Charles leaves, and Eugenie carefully hides the vanity case in the oak purse.

The miser’s tyranny and the imprisonment of Eugenia

Félix Grandet sends the banker de Grassin to Paris to stall on his behalf with his late brother’s creditors. Meanwhile, his uncle profitably sells his 1819 wine and gold, buying five-percent-yielding bonds and amassing a new fortune of two and a half million francs.

On New Year’s Day 1820, Grande demands her daughter show him her gold coins, intending to exchange them for rent. Eugenia confesses she no longer has the gold, refusing to reveal the recipient’s name. The enraged father locks his daughter in an unheated room, forcing her to live on bread and water. Nanette secretly brings food to the young lady.

Eugénie’s mother falls gravely ill from the fear and cruelty she endured at her husband’s hands. Notary Cruchot warns Grandet that if his wife dies, Eugénie will become the legal heir to half of her mother’s property, which will require an inventory and sale of the estates. Fearing financial losses, Grandet frees her daughter and pretends to forgive her.

The death of parents and a million-dollar inheritance

Eugénie’s mother dies in the autumn of 1822, urging her daughter to seek happiness in heaven. After her death, Grandet tricks Eugénie into signing a renunciation of her mother’s inheritance in his favor for a hundred francs a month.

The old man begins teaching his daughter how to manage the estates, passing on his business skills to her. In 1827, the eighty-two-year-old Grandet suffers paralysis. In his final moments, he gazes fixedly at the door of his study containing his gold. When a priest raises a gilded crucifix to his lips, the old man makes a final attempt to grasp the metal and dies, telling his daughter: "Take care of the gold! You will give me an account of it in the next world!"

Thirty-year-old Eugénie remains the sole owner of a colossal fortune of seventeen million francs. She continues to live in the old Saumur house with Nanette, who is marrying the steward Antoine Cornoyer. Eugénie awaits news from Charles, keeping his dressing bag.

Charles’s betrayal and Eugenia’s decision

During his seven years in India and Africa, Charles Grandet amassed enormous wealth through the trade in goods and slaves. Having undergone a harsh education, he developed into a callous, calculating businessman. Memories of his cousin and the Saumur bench finally faded from his memory.

In the summer of 1827, Charles returned to France with a fortune worth one million nine hundred thousand francs. Desiring the title of count, he proposed to the skinny and unattractive daughter of the Marquis d’Aubrion. However, the Marquis refused him, as Charles’s father had died bankrupt with unpaid debts.

Charles writes a dry letter to Eugénie. He returns her six thousand francs with interest, announces his upcoming marriage of convenience, and asks for her to send back his mother’s vanity case.

Paying off debts and the fate of the heroine

Having finally realized her hopes had been dashed, Eugénie maintained her cool dignity. She summoned the presiding judge, de Bonfons, and handed him one and a half million francs. Eugénie instructed him to go to Paris, pay off her uncle’s debts in full, with interest, and deliver the receipts to Charles along with a letter.

In exchange for this favor, Eugénie agrees to marry de Bonnefons, stipulating that the marriage will remain fictitious and that her husband will not lay claim to her personal freedom. De Bonnefons rushes to the capital, pays off Guillaume Grandet’s debts, and hands Charles the documents, depriving him of any excuses to the Marquis.

De Bonfons soon married Eugénie. Appointed to the Court of Justice, he died unexpectedly a few years later. Thirty-six-year-old Eugénie was once again left alone, with an income of eight hundred thousand livres a year. She led a modest life in an old house, donating millions to founding schools, libraries, almshouses, and aiding the poor.