The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau by Honore de Balzac translated by Ellen Marriage, is a 323-page softcover published in 1989 by Carrol & Graf Publishers, Inc., New York,  There is minor shelf wear to the edges of the cover.  Inside, the pages are clean and unmarked and the binding is tight.

Book Summary

Balzac remains internationally popular for his classic novels depicting nineteenth century French society and for his memorable characters that inhabit the bourgeoisie and the swirling underclasses aspiring to positions of privilege.

Set during the eclipse of Napoleon and the restoration of the Monarchy, this brilliant tale follows the turbulent career of Cesar Birotteau, a basically honest man of peasant stock.  When he stumbles upon an invention that transforms his business into a flourishing enterprise, his dream for recognition and magnificence turns distinctly vivid...so vivid that he is blind to the swindlers scheming to disgrace and defraud him.  Soon he is confronted with the real entrepreneurial "spirit" of the times and forced to bow to a bourgeois "respectability" vested in public officials and steeped in hypocrisy.

ISBN:  0-88184-448-9