Young, attractive and very ambitious, George Duroy, known to his friends as Bel-Ami, is offered a job as a journalist on La Vie francaise and soon makes a great success of his new career. But he also comes face to face with the realities of the corrupt society in which he lives - the sleazy colleagues, the manipulative mistresses and wily financiers - and swiftly learns to become an arch-seducer, blackmailer and social climber in a world where love is only a means to an end. Written when Maupassant was at the height of his powers, Bel-Ami is a novel of great frankness and cynicism, but...

This is a dual-language book with the French text on the left side, and the English text on the right side of each spread. The texts are precisely synchronized. The book includes Guy de Maupassant's introduction "The Novel." See more details about this and other books on French Classics in French and English page on Facebook.

Pierre and Jean are the sons of Gerome Roland, a jeweller who has retired to Le Havre, and his wife Louise. Pierre works as a doctor, and Jean is a lawyer. It recounts the story of a middle-class French family whose lives are changed when Leon Marechal, a deceased family friend, leaves his inheritance to Jean. This provokes Pierre to doubt the fidelity of his mother and the legitimacy of his brother. In his anguish, most notably shown during family meals, he tortures her with allusions to the past that he has now uncovered"

This early work by Guy de Maupassant was originally published in the 1880's. Guy de Maupassant was born in 1850 at the Chateau de Miromesnil, near Dieppe, France. He came from a prosperous family, but when Maupassant was eleven, his mother risked social disgrace by trying to secure a legal separation from her husband. After the split, Maupassant lived with his mother till he was thirteen, and inherited her love of classical literature. In 1880, Maupassant published his first - and, according to many, his best - short story, entitled 'Boule de Suif' ('Ball of Fat'). It was an instant success....

This early work by Guy de Maupassant was originally published in the 1880's. Guy de Maupassant was born in 1850 at the Chateau de Miromesnil, near Dieppe, France. He came from a prosperous family, but when Maupassant was eleven, his mother risked social disgrace by trying to secure a legal separation from her husband. After the split, Maupassant lived with his mother till he was thirteen, and inherited her love of classical literature. In 1880, Maupassant published his first - and, according to many, his best - short story, entitled 'Boule de Suif' ('Ball of Fat'). It was an instant success....