Book description
Finance, fashionable society, and the intrigues of the underworld and the police system form the heart of this powerful novel, which introduces the satanic genius Vautrin, one of the greatest villains in world literature.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the…
Why read it?
1 author picked A Harlot High and Low as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I loved this book because it depicts one of Balzac’s most fascinating characters, who poses as a Spanish priest named Herrera, but is known by other names — Vautrin, Jacque Collin, and Dodgedeath — and who straddles the worlds of high society and the depths of the criminal underground.
The story follows the relationship between Herrera and the ambitious young poet Lucien. The plot is Byzantine and Machiavellian, as one intrigue leads to another.
Herrera uses Lucien to his own advantage, plotting to raise Lucien to a position in the aristocracy, marry him off to a wealthy family, and get…
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