The lily of the valley (Honoré de Balzac)

Autobiographical and exceptionally romantic, „The Lily of the Valley” is an 1835 novel about love and society by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) and is one of his personal favorites among his innumerable novels. The creator of the „Human Comedy” brings his creative insight to a portrait of a lady and a love affair set in the Loire valley. It concerns the affection – emotionally vibrant but never consummated – between Felix de Vandenesse and Henriette de Mortsauf. The young and successful Felix, a young man with a dark past – always turned away, always unloved, begins a forthright correspondence on the subject of love with Henriette. Her unexpected reply to his candid reminiscences, however, reveals the truth about his „lily of the valley” and the feminine side of amour.