Brother Jacques (novels of Paul De Kock, Volume XVII)

At a Parisian wedding feast in a lantern-lit restaurant, two young lovers begin their life together dreaming of happiness. Edouard Murville is the charming groom; Adeline Germeuil, his beautiful bride. Around them swirls the noise and warmth of celebration: family, friends, champagne, the comic mishaps of a festive night. Yet in the corner stands a shadow. Edouard's estranged brother Jacques remains absent, a name unspoken yet profoundly felt, a brother lost to some past misfortune or family rupture that no one at the table dares mention. What unfolds is both tender and sharp: a young couple's hopeful beginning interwoven with the quiet weight of family fracture, all observed through the comic chaos of daily existence in early nineteenth-century Paris. De Kock was the people's novelist of his era, writing not of aristocratic drama but of guinguettes, cabarets, and the small adventures that make up ordinary life. His tone is cheerful and satirical, finding hilarity in the mess of living while acknowledging its quiet sorrows. This is for readers who want the warmth of period romance with an edge of family mystery, and who prefer their social comedy on the lighter, more benevolent side.