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A Woman of Thirty
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Plot Summary of A Woman of Thirty
"A WOMAN OF THIRTY (La Femme de Trente Ans), a novel divided in six parts, has been written between 1828 and 1844.

The novel tells the story of Julie D'Aiglemont over a 25 years period. She married, as a young girl, the Marquis d'Aiglemont, who deceived very soon the romantic dreams of Julie. While the Marquis wasn't understanding his wife's languidness, Lord Grenville, an english noble and doctor, managed to cure Julie from her neurosis and be loved by her.

After the death of Lord Grenville and years of mourning, Julie will cheat again on her husband with the diplomat Félix Vandenesse. She also will neglect more and more Hélène, the daughter she had with the Marquis d'Aiglemont. Hélène will never forgive her mother and, one night, she will leave home with a strange man wanted for murder.

The last part of the novel tells the decay of the d'Aiglemont family as the Marquis is ruined by financial speculations and forced to leave his family in order to try to make a new fortune in South America.

"

Daniel Staebler, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of A Woman of Thirty
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - 19th century
Romance/Romance Problems Yes
Kind of romance: - playing footsy while inconveniently married - marriage/relationship going to pieces
Family, struggle with Yes
Struggle with: - Daughter
Ethnic/regional/gender life Yes
Woman's story? Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status: - homemaker
Age: - 20's-30's
Eccentric/Mental Yes
Eccentric: - emotionally unstable
Ethnicity/Nationality - French
How sensitive is this character? - sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - healthy but a geeky weakling

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 20's-30's
Eccentric/Smart/Dumb: Yes
Eccentric: - dumb
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - an average amount
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence - Dumb
Physique - average physique

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 5 ()
Europe Yes
European country: - France
Water? Yes
Water: - drowning
Misc setting - fort/military installation

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - moderately detailed references to deaths
Unusual Style: - a lot of stream of consciousness
Amount of dialog - significantly more descript than dialog
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Honoré de Balzac Resident Scholar Profiles

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