Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

A life

by Guy de Maupassant

A Life (1883), the first of Maupassant's six completed novels, tells the story of Jeanne de Lamare, the only daughter of wealthy Norman aristocrats. From the day she leaves convent school, her head full of innocent hopes for the future, to the moment twenty-nine years later when she becomes a grandmother under very changed circumstances, Jeanne slowly discovers that her reality does not resemble romantic fiction.... (more)

The Count of Monte Cristo

by Alexandre Dumas, pere

The first complete and unexpurgated translation of this quintessential novel of intrigue and revenge in nearly 150 years, this edition brings the full power of Dumas' masterpiece to English-language audiences.

Les Misérables

by Victor Hugo

ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP An ex-convict struggles for redemption in the punishing world of post-Napoleonic France. EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: • A concise introduction that gives readers important background information • A chronology of the author's life and work • A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context • An outline of key... (more)

Old Goriot (Penguin Classics)

by Honoré de Balzac

This fine example of the French realist novel contrasts the social progress of an impoverished but ambitious aristocrat with the tale of a father, whose obsessive love for his daughters leads to his personal and financial ruin.

The Red and the Black

by Stendhal

Handsome and ambitious, Julien Sorel is determined to rise above his humble peasant origins and make something of his life-by adopting the code of hypocrisy by which his society operates. Julien ultimately commits a crime-out of passion, principle, or insanity-that will bring about his downfall. The Red and the Black is a lively, satirical picture of French Restoration society after Waterloo, riddled with... (more)

Nana (The 100 greatest books of all time)

Nana (The 100 greatest books of all time)

by Emile Zola

Nana opens in 1867, the year of the World Fair, when Paris, thronged by a cosmopolitan elite, was a perfect target for Zola's scathing denunciation of hypocrisy and fin-de-siecle moral corruption. In this new translation, the fate of Nana--the Helen of Troy of the second Empire, and daughter of the laundress in L'Assommoir--is now rendered in racy, stylish English.

Bel-Ami

by Guy de Maupassant, Margaret Mauldon

Young, attractive and very ambitious, George Duroy, known to his friends as Bel-Ami, is offered a job as a journalist on La Vie francaise and soon makes a great success of his new career. But he also comes face to face with the realities of the corrupt society in which he lives the sleazy colleagues, the manipulative mistresses and wily financiers and swiftly learns to become an arch-seducer, blackmailer and... (more)

La Conquete De Plassans (Garnier-Flammarion)

La Conquete De Plassans (Garnier-Flammarion)

by Emile Zola, Henri Mitterand

Émile Zola (1840-1902), né à Paris, est un écrivain, journaliste et homme public français, considéré comme le chef de file du naturalisme. C'est l'un des romanciers français les plus universellement populaires, l'un des plus publiés et traduits au monde, le plus adapté au cinéma et à la télévision. Sa vie et son oeuvre ont été étudiés dans le détail par la science historique. Sur le plan littéraire, il est... (more)

Salambó

by Gustave Flaubert

While the roman hordes besiege and wait for the moment to invade carthage, the priestess of the temple of the goddess tanit, salambo, loves and is loved. She is the daughter of Amilkar, the great general and to recover the lost veil that has fallen into the hands of the adversary, she must give herself to the enemy.

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Tags: french novel of the 19 century