The Lily of the Valley

Written as a long confession, this novel recounts Felix de Vandenesse’s consuming, near-worshipful love for Madame Henriette de Mortsauf, a married woman he meets in the soft valley of the Indre. She becomes his moral guide and his torment, holding him to a chaste devotion while her own unhappy marriage and her longing slowly wear her down. Balzac sets this account of restrained passion against the Touraine landscape he loved, treating desire, duty, and self-denial with an intensity that borders on the religious. It is one of his most lyrical books, and one of his saddest studies of what people sacrifice in the name of virtue. Free to read as a PDF and EPUB edition.