Père Goriot

Honoré de Balzac · 1799–1850 · France

Originally Le Père Goriot (French)

Why it matters

A boarding house, a discarded father, and young Rastignac's education in how Paris actually works. The cornerstone of the Comédie humaine and the template for every novel where an ambitious provincial meets the machinery of money.

At a glance

Dense social description opens the novel before the plot's clear momentum takes hold.