Father Goriot

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Set against the background of a society driven by greed and ambition, this is the tragic story of a father financially and personally ruined by his obsessive love for his two daughters. It follows the intertwined lives of three characters: the elderly doting Goriot, a mysterious criminal-in-hiding named Vautrin, and a naive law student named Eugène de Rastignac. Balzac presents a portrait of both affluence and squalor in post-Napoleonic Paris.