Cousine Bette (1847) was one of the last and greatest of Balzac’s novels. By the time he wrote it he had already created in his monumental novel-series, The Human Comedy , a whole world of people on whom to draw for characters; he had also acquired a mastery of compelling narrative. Cousin Bette is the story of the Hulot family: risen to eminence under Napoleon I, their ari Cousine Bette (1847) was one of the last and greatest of Balzac’s novels. By the time he wrote it he had already created in his monumental novel-series, The Human Comedy , a whole world of people on whom to draw for characters; he had also acquired a mastery of compelling narrative. Cousin Bette is the story of the Hulot family: risen to eminence under Napoleon I, their aristocratic values leave them bewildered and vulnerable in the money-ridden bourgeois Paris of the 1840s. It is also the story of Bette herself, the poor relation whose patient malice finally leads to their destruction. (Source: back cover)