Bel Ami

An ambitious man ascends the ranks of French society through a series of duplicitous affairs in this nineteenth–century novel of greed, sex, and power.

A journalist and former cavalry officer in French Algeria, Georges Duroy is young, handsome, and ruthlessly cunning. Born to humble parents in Normandy, Duroy acquires inside knowledge of Parisian society and politics through his friendship with Madeleine Forestier, the wife of a former comrade. Forestier helps Duroy attain status and professional success by leveraging her contacts and writing some of his articles. They marry soon after, only for her to later become his nemesis.

A vividly rendered portrait of bourgeois capitalism under the Third Republic, Bel Ami is a timeless tale of corruption and shameless manipulation. First published in 1885, it established Guy de Maupassant’s reputation as one of France’s great novelists.