
By Honore De Balzac
VENDETTA
CHAPTER I. PROLOGUE
CHAPTER II. THE STUDIO
CHAPTER III. LABEDOYERE’S FRIEND
CHAPTER IV. LOVE
CHAPTER V. MARRIAGE
CHAPTER VI. RETRIBUTION
ADDENDUM - The following personages appear in other stories of the Human Comedy.
Set against the waning days of 1800, the story opens with a weary Italian family standing before the Tuileries, their faces marked by loss and a quiet determination. Bartolomeo di Piombo, a proud yet aged stranger, carries a dagger not as a weapon but as a symbol of a grudging promise to confront the new regime. As he insists on an audience with the young Bonaparte, the tension between personal grief and political ambition begins to shape the lives of his wife and young daughter.
Through vivid scenes of Parisian streets and the shadow of the looming palace, the narrative weaves together themes of love, honor, and the relentless pull of revenge. The characters’ interactions hint at hidden alliances, artistic passions, and the clash between old‑world loyalties and the sweeping changes of the French Revolution. Listeners are drawn into a richly textured portrait of a family poised on the edge of a dangerous decision.
Language
en
Duration
~2 hours (143K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by John Bickers, Bonnie Sala, and Dagny, and David Widger
Release date
2005-10-28
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.
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by Honoré de Balzac

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by Honoré de Balzac

by Honoré de Balzac