L'enfant à la balustrade
A largely autobiographical novel published in 1903. Through the eyes of ten-year-old Riquet Nadaud, son of a notary, the story explores the petty rivalries and social maneuvering of provincial bourgeois society in a small Touraine town. When Riquet's father purchases a coveted house with a terrace enclosed by a balustrade, the family faces ostracism from local notables. As adult conflicts swirl around him, the
