El Verdugo: A story set during the Napoleonic war in Spain that deals with the true horrors of conflict

Honoré de Balzac was born on the 20th May, 1799 in the French city of Tours into an upper middle class family.

At birth Balzac was wet-nursed and often then schooled away from home by parents who seemed remote. So difficult was life that at 15 he attempted suicide. The family's intention was for him to have a career in law but Balzac preferred literature. An avid reader, he began writing but his early attempts showed little promise.

He thereafter settled in Paris and began to publish anonym...