Honoré de Balzac

Histoire de la grandeur et de la décadence de César Birotteau or César Birotteau, is an 1837 novel by Honoré de Balzac as part of his series La Comédie humaine. Its main character is a Parisian perfumier who achieves success in the cosmetics business, but becomes bankrupt due to property speculation.

The story of a French military hero of the Napoleonic Wars, long assumed to be dead, tries to recover his fortune and former wife through the help of a famous Parisian lawyer. Colonel Chabert, a Napoleonic War hero supposedly killed in the Battle of Eylau, returns to Paris after a long convalescence to find his wife …