After the July Revolution of 1830, the Princesse de Cadignan was able to make the Parisian high society forget her scandalous past, her escapades and her disappointments as a young girl. She is now a virtuous and discreet woman who lives far from the worldliness and the salons of the newly settled July Monarchy and its moral values and social conservatism. Advised by her friend, the intrepid and matchmaker Marquise d'Espard, she is now looking for true love. She is introduced to the poet Daniel d'Arthez, a serious and hard-working spirit who lives frugally despite his literary success. They meet at a dinner party and fall for each other but, trapped by her own lies, manipulated by her evil friend and caught up in her nefarious past, she is eventually cornered and called out; her secrets threaten this new budding love. But the woman, ridiculed and humiliated, will find herself strengthened in her love since her lover sees in her, not just a shameless liar, but a true artist who reimagines her own life.

Les Secrets de la Princesse de Cadignan is a short story by Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) which is part of the Études de femmes of which we read two other short stories. It is one of the most optimistic stories in the entire Comédie Humaine and it was, for new readers of Balzac, a privileged gateway to the greatest work of 19th century French literature.

We read this book in the winter of 2021.