Cousin Bette

By: Honoré de Balzac

Narrated by: Lucy Scott

Lisbeth Fischer has lived in the shadow of her beautiful cousin Adeline for much of her life. Pampered while Lisbeth works in the fields, Adeline makes an enviable leap in status when Baron Hulot offers her his hand in marriage. Out of kindness, they bring Lisbeth to Paris, where she falls in love with the artist Wenceslas, her protege.

However, when she is jilted for Adeline's daughter Hortense, her jealousy and rage exponentially intensify, and she resolves to bring the Hulot family to ruin, employing the cold seductress Valerie Marneffe as her vehicle for revenge.

A classic tale of obsession, self-destruction and unabated desire, Cousin Bette is a blazing portrayal of libertine France, and the fatal excesses which drive the novel to its dark end.

Download the accompanying reference guide.Public Domain (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

A Masterpiece!

This is one of Balzac’s masterpieces. The characters are so well-defined, almost larger than life. Everything is so well executed in this audio version.

A wonderful description of Parison life and culture of the mid 19th century.

Too long and to many depressing downfalls and failing of fickle and depraved carectors that dominate ninty percent of the story.