<p>Bette a poor relation of the beautiful Adeline nurses a terrible grudge against her cousin’s family on whom she depends. That family is slowly being ruined by the uncontrollable sexual appetites of Adeline’s husband Baron Hulot—and it is this weakness that will give the cunning Cousin Bette an opportunity to exact her vengeance.</p> <p>A profound examination of obsessive passion this masterpiece exemplifies what Henry James described as Balzac’s “huge all-compassing all-desiring all-devouring love of reality.” One of Balzac's “scenes of Parisian life” <em>Cousin Bette</em> offers a hypnotic vision of the infinitely varied city during the bright vital and scandalous era of King Louis-Philippe. The courtesans swindlers bankers artists murderers detectives and saints that pass before us blaze with an unsurpassed vividness and energy.</p>