The Ball at Sceaux

"The Ball at Sceaux" by Honoré de Balzac is a novel written in the early 19th century. The story is set in post-revolutionary France and centers around the Comte de Fontaine, his ambitious daughter Emilie, and the intricate social dynamics of the French aristocracy as they navigate love, marriage, and social standing. At the start of the novel, we are introduced to the Comte de Fontaine, a royalist nobleman, who, after enduring political struggles and the ravages of the French Revolution, moves his family to Paris in search of better prospects for his children. He finds himself entangled in the shifting political landscape and desperate to secure advantageous marriages for his three daughters. The opening portion establishes a contrast between the Count's stoic values and his daughter's disdain as Emilie grapples with the expectations of noble birth and the object of her affections—Maximilien Longueville—who embodies both mystery and allure. This exploration of class, ambition, and the pursuit of love in a fragmented social order sets the tone for the drama that follows. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Honoré de Balzac was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence La Comédie humaine, which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is generally viewed as his magnum opus.