Petty Troubles of Married Life

In Balzac's wickedly funny study of wedlock, marriage is less a romance than a battlefield of money, vanity, and social maneuvering. From the opening satire on dowries, inheritances, and family alliances, every union is shown as a practical negotiation disguised by ceremony, where even children become part of the bargaining over property and succession. Through Adolphe and Caroline, Balzac turns domestic life into a sequence of comic humiliations: a husband learns that his wife's wit can embarrass him in public, her attention can erase his freedom in private, and her wishes can steadily convert affection into obligation. Morning routines, carriage rides, social visits, and household expenses all become tests of endurance. As the marriage continues, illusion gives way to disappointment. Caroline's charm hardens into tactlessness and resentment, while Adolphe is blamed for failures of judgment, especially in money matters. A risky business scheme, meant to satisfy her desires, ends in recrimination, and the novel's sharp aphorisms expose how quickly love becomes calculation once domestic reality sets in. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.