The third, and briefest, part of a trilogy called The History of the Thirteen, The Girl with the Golden Eyes is one piece of the vast tableaux of Balzac's Human Comedy. The "Thirteen" are a secret society. The Girl with the Golden Eyes contains some of Balzac's most intense observations of 19th Century Parisian society. It tells the story of a beautiful young woman seduced by a servant of "The Thirteen." The other two parts of The History of the Thirteen may also be of interest: Ferragus, and The Duchesse de Langeais. Each contains Balzac's sharp-eyed observations of human frailty and love.

Author Biography

Ellen Marriage (1865 - 1946) was an English translator from French, notably of Balzac's novels. She put an effort into readability and accuracy that was unusual in translators of her period. A. R. Waller, a critic who was a neighbour of the Marriage family, suggested she do translations when he proposed to the London publisher J. M. Dent that his firm embark on the first complete edition of Balzac's immense novel cycle La Comedie humaine. Hitherto only a few of the novels had appeared in the United Kingdom singly. George Saintsbury was appointed editor and work began. Forty volumes duly appeared between 1895 and 1898, although five others were omitted as too shocking for Victorian English tastes. Marriage, under her own name and under the pseudonym James Waring for some of the "bolder works," did most of the translation, except for 13 volumes done by Clara Bell (1834-1927) and one volume done by Rachel Scott.