The Lily of the Valley

Le Lys dans la Vallée is an 1835 novel about love and society by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850). It concerns the affection - emotionally vibrant but never consummated - between Felix de Vandenesse and Henriette de Mortsauf. It is part of his series of novels (or Roman-fleuve) known as La Comédie humaine (The Human Comedy), which parodies and depicts French society in the period of the Bourbon Restoration and the July Monarchy (1815-1848). In his novel he also mentions the chateau Azay-le-Rideau, which can still be visited today.