Juana

In the wreckage left by the French capture of Tarragona, Balzac opens a world where military discipline barely restrains greed, lust, and violence. The infamous 6th of the line, with its swaggering courage and private corruption, frames the story's dark glamour, while Captain Montefiore and Quartermaster Diard emerge as soldiers who think like gamblers, living by appetite, vanity, and self-interest rather than honor. Their search for loot and pleasure soon turns personal: Diard snatches a painting from a convent, and Montefiore becomes obsessed with a young Spanish woman glimpsed in the chaos. That woman, Juana, is hidden in the house of a stern draper, guarded by a family bound to secrecy and patriotic resentment. Montefiore wins their trust, discovers her, and is struck by her beauty as if by an ideal of innocence and sensual grace. Her history reveals a startling lineage: she is the daughter of La Marana, a courtesan who renounced her past to save her child from inherited corruption. But when Montefiore returns to seduce Juana and escape, the fragile household erupts into betrayal, maternal sacrifice, and the threat of violent revenge. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.