The Books Oracle

A Start in Life

by Honoré de Balzac · La Comédie Humaine series

A young clerk attempts to climb the social ladder through charm, lies, and the right connections, only to find that ambition without judgment is a reliable path to ruin. Balzac follows a provincial naïf into a world of swindlers and social climbers, where every introduction is a gamble and the bill always comes due.

La Comédie Humaine in reading order

• 7. Albert Savarus — Honoré de Balzac
• 22. La Femme de Trente Ans — Honoré de Balzac
• 25. The Athiest's Mass — Honoré de Balzac
• 74. The Quest Of The Absolute — Honoré de Balzac
• 87. Seraphita — Honoré de Balzac
• A Passion in the Desert — Honoré de Balzac
• A Start in Life — Honoré de Balzac
• Beatrix — Honoré de Balzac
• Colonel Chabert — Ellen Marriage / Honoré de Balzac
• Cousin Bette — Sylvia Raphael / David Bellos / Honoré de Balzac
• Cousin Pons — Honoré de Balzac / Herbert J. Hunt
• Eugénie Grandet — Honoré de Balzac
• Gobseck — אונורה דה בלזאק / מירי ליטבק / ראובן מירן / אפרת ניר / Honoré de Balzac
• La Piel De Zapa — Honoré de Balzac
• Lost Illusions — Ellen Marriage / George Saintsbury / Honoré de Balzac
• Maître Cornélius — Katharine Prescott Wormeley / Honoré de Balzac
• Modeste Mignon — Katherine Prescott Wormeley / Honoré de Balzac
• Pierrette — Honoré de Balzac
• Sarrasine — Sophie Lewis / Honoré de Balzac
• The Ball At Sceaux — Honoré de Balzac
• The Chouans — Honoré de Balzac
• The Elixir Of Life — Honoré de Balzac
• The Girl with the Golden Eyes — Charlotte Mandell / Honoré de Balzac
• The Mysterious Mansion — Honoré de Balzac
• The Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan — Honoré de Balzac / Katherine Prescott Wormeley
• The Unknown Masterpiece — Richard Howard / Arthur C. Danto / Honoré de Balzac
• A Daughter Of Eve — Honoré de Balzac
• A Harlot High and Low — Rayner Heppenstall / Honoré de Balzac
• A Murky Business — Honoré de Balzac / Herbert J. Hunt
• Another Study Of Woman — Honoré de Balzac

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