![]() ![]() ![]() However, when a young man that Bette has had her eye on is stolen by Adeline’s lovely daughter Hortense, Bette resolves to have her revenge on the family that has always looked down upon her. Bette is always welcome for dinner in the Hulot house, and she keeps her ill feelings well hidden. Now in their forties, Bette is a spinster and embroidery entrepreneur while Adeline is a beautiful baroness. The two grew up together, and Adeline was always treated like a princess while Bette was regarded as little more than a servant. ![]() Lisbeth “Bette” Fischer has always envied and resented her wealthier, more attractive cousin Adeline. The web of relationships between the myriad characters isn’t quite as byzantine as The Count of Monte Cristo, but close. ![]() The ensemble cast is large and the plot is quite complicated. In fact, Cousin Bette may be Balzac’s greatest work, vying for that title with such excellent books as Père Goriot, Lost Illusions, and Eugénie Grandet. Of the two, Cousin Bette is a vastly superior book to Cousin Pons. Though both Cousin novels deal with the less fortunate relatives of wealthy families, the stories are unrelated and share no common characters (except perhaps for some cameo appearances in the supporting cast). In addition to being included in Balzac’s large collection of writings known as the Comédie Humaine, Cousin Bette is paired in a literary diptych with the author’s 1847 novel Cousin Pons, under the heading of Poor Relations. Cousin Bette, published in 1846, is one of Honoré de Balzac’s lengthiest and most substantial works. ![]()
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