A Marriage Settlement

Paul de Manerville, an amiable and none too clever young nobleman, decides to marry the beautiful Natalie Evangelista and settle down. What he does not grasp is that the real drama lies not in the wedding but in the marriage contract itself. Behind the courtesies, two lawyers and Natalie’s formidable mother wage a quiet war over money, dowry, and inheritance, and the terms they set will shape the rest of Paul’s life. Balzac turns a dry legal negotiation into a study of greed, self-deception, and the traps of provincial ambition, all part of his sweeping Comedie humaine. Few writers have made the fine print of a contract feel so much like fate. Free to read in PDF and EPUB editions.