Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes

Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes, translated variously as The Splendors and Miseries of Courtesans, A Harlot High and Low, or as Lost Souls, is an 1838-1847 novel by French novelist Honoré de Balzac, published in four initially separate parts:

Esther Happy (Esther heureuse, 1838) What Love Costs an Old Man (À combien l’amour revient aux vieillards, 1843) The End of Evil Ways (Où mènent les mauvais chemins, 1846) The Last Incarnation of Vautrin (La Dernière incarnation de Vautrin, 1847)It continues the story of Lucien de Rubempré, who was a main character in Illusions perdues, a preceding Balzac novel. Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes forms part of Balzac's La Comédie humaine.