The Vicar of Tours

'The Vicar of Tours' is a novella written by Honoré de Balzac. It is one of the best known of all Balzac's fictions. The story follows the Abbé François Birotteau and the Abbé Hyacinthe Troubert, both of whom are priests at Tours. They have separate lodgings in the house belonging to the crabby spinster Sophie Gamard in that city. Birotteau is an other-worldly, gentle, introspective type; Troubert, who is ten years younger than his fellow boarder, is very much of the world: he is a careerist devoured by ambition.