Euginie Grandet, first the victim of her wealthy father`s miserliness, then disappointed in her love for her faithless cousin Charles, ends up rich and lonely in the house where she grew up, with only a devoted servant for company. Despite its title, however, the novel is essentially a portrait of one of Balzac`s favorite character types--the greedy miser whose obsessive penny-pinching destroys the lives of those around him. Euginie herself is an illustration of Balzac`s firm deterministic belief that the effects of heredity cannot be overcome: as she matures, Euginie becomes as miserly and self-denying as her father was. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.