Set amid the elegance and hypocrisy of 19th-century French society, Gerfaut follows the romantic and moral entanglements of a refined but enigmatic hero. As he becomes involved with a married woman and navigates the consequences of his affections, he is drawn into duels-both literal and emotional-that test his honor and resilience. With a keen eye for character and social nuance, this novel examines the cost of love in a world ruled by appearances and rigid codes.
Pierre-Marie-Charles de Bernard du Grail de la Villette (1804-1850) was a French writer. William Makepeace Thackeray called de Bernard's characters "men and women of genteel society--rascals enough, but living in no state of convulsive crimes; and we follow him in his lively, malicious account of their manners, without risk of lighting upon any such horrors as Balzac or Dumas has provided for us."