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Translated with Notes by Sylvia Raphael With an Introduction by David Bellos. It is one of the finest of my finest works. Cousin Bette (1846) is considered to be Balzac`s last great novel, and a key work in his Human Comedy. Set in Paris in the i83os and i84os, it is a complex tale of the devastating effects of violent jealousy and sexual passion. Against a meticulously detailed backdrop of post-Napoleonic France struggling with massive industrial and economic change, Balzac`s characters span many social classes, from impoverished workers and wealthy courtesans to successful businessmen and official dignitaries. The tragic outcome of the novel is relieved by occasional flashes of ironic comedy and the emergence of a younger generation which has come to terms with the new political and economic climate.