Publisher's Synopsis
Eveline Hanska (1805-82) was a Polish noblewoman who began reading Balzac's novels in the late 1820s and sent him an anonymous letter in 1832. This was the start of a decades long correspondence which eventually led to their marriage in 1850, following her husband's death in 1841 and the delay caused by complications arising from the terms governing the inheritance of his estate. Balzac died five months after their marriage. Katharine Prescott Wormeley (1830-1908), who had served as a nurse in the American Civil War, was one of the best known translators of her time having translated the entire works of Balzac for American readers in addition to many other works by French literary figures.
