Eugénie Grandet / Honore de Balzac ; translated by Marion Ayton Crawford.

I chose this book at the library because I thought it might be interesting, but was also concerned that it might be ponderous and boring. It wasn't boring at all, in fact, I became so involved in the plot and caught up with the characters that I read it whenever I could, wondering what would happen next.

The novel takes place in a small town in France and begins in 1819, on the day of Eugénie Grandet's birthday. She is turning 23 and there are visitors to celebrate the special day. The visitors are notable members of the community and they are there for one important reason - they wish to get on the "good side" of the family, especially M. Grandet, with the hope that their sons will marry Eugénie. Eugénie's father is very miserly and is suspected by community members to be extremely rich because of his business acumen and penny-pinching ways. They are right - he is extremely rich, but is only interested in amassing wealth and not in making life more pleasant for himself, his family or the community. He houses his family in a dark, old dwelling and controls their every comfort and consumption, even weighing out the meagre food that he doles out to the family each day. He treats them meanly and bullies them. The family's only "extravagance" is attending church, which M. Grandet begrudgingly allows. Because the townspeople believe that he is very rich, they show him a lot of deference and try to ingratiate themselves to the miser.

On the day of her birthday, Eugénie's 22 year old cousin Charles unexpectedly visits from Paris. Very handsome, dressed like an aristocrat, Charles is the son of M. Grandet's brother who is also assumed to be very wealthy. Eugénie becomes very attracted to him, more information is revealed and things get very complicated when she begins to take more control of her life, to her father's horror.

This book is extremely good in the way it portrays this wealthy, miserly individual, how he has created the wealth, and how he makes use of the power he has over other people because of his supposed wealth. It shows the twists and turns he makes to get more wealth and keep his money, despite all else including his wife and daughter. A very good book.