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Adieu
Honoré de Balzac · 1830 · Romance, Historical, Drama & Literary
Balzac's harrowing tale of love and war. Years after the horrors of Napoleon's 1812 retreat from Russia, Colonel Philippe de Sucy finds the woman he loved, the Countess Stephanie, living wild and mindless, her reason shattered at the freezing crossing of the Beresina, where her last word to him was Adieu. He will risk everything, even her life, on one desperate attempt to bring her back.
Inside this edition
Every LitLab edition is illustrated from the text itself — the world of the book mapped, its people drawn, its scenes staged. 28 plates are open to everyone in this book; here are 8 of them.
Map — The Retreat from Russia, 1812
SmolenskA crucial supply point on the retreat, where the starving army hoped in vain for relief.
The Characters — A Map of Connections
The Characters of Adieu
The Characters of Adieu — I · The House of VandièresThe full-length cast of Balzac's Adieu, part one: Stéphanie and Philippe, the Comte de Vandières, the doctor uncle Fanjat, the Grandvilles, and gentle Geneviève.
The Characters of Adieu — II · The Grande ArméeThe full-length cast, part two: the Marquis d'Albon, the aide Hippolyte, Philippe's orderly, a grenadier of the Old Guard, Generals Éblé and Victor — and Bichette, Philippe's grey mare.
Stéphanie de Vandières
The Retreat — Philippe and Stéphanie
This edition
- Title
- Adieu
- Author
- Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850)
- First published
- 1830
- Illustrated plates
- 57 original artworks · 28 open to everyone
- Chapters
- 6 · about 15,545 words
- Reading time
- 1 h 2 min
- Language
- EN
- Formats
- Read online · EPUB and PDF download with a subscription
- Publisher
- LitLab — The Illustrated Classics
- On LitLab since
- August 2026
- Rights
- Text in the public domain. Illustrations and edition © LitLab.
- Source text
- Project Gutenberg #1554
Neighbours in the library
Chosen by what they share with Adieu — the same author, the same genre.