The first of Balzac's sequence of novels depicting life in Restoration-ere France, describes the life of Felix Grandet, a cooper and wine merchant who becomes morally decayed by his obsession with hoarding wealth.

His miserly habits and cut-throat business practices allow him to amass staggering wealth, but he keeps this a secret from his daughter and wife, whom he forces to live in poverty.

The novel is very well-conceived. Knowing that his kind and humble wife and daughter could be living in comfort, but instead must beg Grandet for wood to light their fire, creates an ironic tension that is intensely frustrating. As a reader I was horrified. Grandet becomes wealthier and wealthier, yet his satisfaction comes only from hoarding and not from any practical enjoyment of his wealth.