Balzac was the living manifestation of the colourful and varied world he described. Compared to Balzac, Flaubert, Henry James and Tolstoy are mere observers. Like the arch-criminal Vantrin, Balzac was an expert in manipulation, he was a passionate collector, a perfect companion and like Baron Hulot, he was a relentless seducer. This book takes readers through Balzac's early literary disappointments and his relentless struggle against poverty, and how he developed his extraordinary powers of hard work and concentration in his early 20s, churning out a factory line of cheap, melodramatic novels. It shows how his desire for literary success and wealth led to various hair-brained entrepreneurial schemes and how his private life became a series of misadventures that culminated in an unfortunate correspondence with the Polish countess, Eveline Hanska, whom he wanted to marry.