
By Honore De Balzac
THE LILY OF THE VALLEY
CHAPTER I. TWO CHILDHOODS
CHAPTER II. FIRST LOVE
CHAPTER III. THE TWO WOMEN
ADDENDUM - The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
A young man haunted by a childhood of neglect and sibling cruelty recounts his earliest years with stark honesty. Sent to the countryside as an infant and later returned to a household where even the servants pity his isolation, he endures relentless emotional abuse that shapes his fragile yet resilient spirit. The narrative explores how these formative pains forge a deep inner strength, compelling him to resist the moral compromises that life continually threatens.
Amid this turmoil, the protagonist writes a fervent confession to the woman he loves, revealing his yearning for redemption and the desperate hope that honesty might finally bind their hearts. His letters expose the tension between duty and desire, as well as the lingering specter of past grievances that still shadows his thoughts. Listeners will be drawn into a poignant study of love, memory, and the quiet battles waged within a soul striving to rise above its early wounds.
Language
en
Duration
~9 hours (561K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny, and David Widger
Release date
2005-01-25
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1799–1850
A giant of French fiction, this restless, ambitious storyteller built a whole literary world in La Comédie humaine, capturing the dreams, vanities, and struggles of 19th-century society. His novels still feel lively because they care so much about money, power, love, and the ways people reinvent themselves.
View all books
by Honoré de Balzac

by Honoré de Balzac

by Honoré de Balzac

by Honoré de Balzac

by Honoré de Balzac

by Honoré de Balzac

by Honoré de Balzac

by Honoré de Balzac