"Eugenie Grandet" by Honoré de Balzac is a novel published in 1834. Set in provincial France after the Revolution, it tells the story of a young woman trapped under the tyranny of her miserly father, Felix Grandet, whose obsession with wealth controls every aspect of their household. When her charming cousin Charles arrives bearing news of family tragedy, Eugenie's act of generosity ignites her father's rage and sets in motion a tale of forbidden love, financial manipulation, and the crushing weight of avarice in nineteenth-century French society.