Honore de Balzac lived most of his life one step from his creditors; his house in Paris even had a special exit for avoiding them. No one knew more about money problems than Balzac, & this is his subject in Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau--one of Balzac's greatest novels. It's the story of Cesar Birotteau, an honest perfumer who's lured into overextending himself. Th ...more