While he was writing it he conceived his ambitious project, La Comédie humaine, and almost immediately prepared a second edition, revising the names of some of the characters so that Eugénie Grandet then fitted into the section: Scenes from provincial life (Scènes de la vie de province) in the Comédie.
[note 1] Eugénie Grandet is set in the town of Saumur, which would have been familiar to Balzac since he grew up in Tours (about 35 miles away).
Felix Grandet, master cooper, married the daughter of a wealthy timber merchant at a time when the French Republic had confiscated the lands of the Church in the district of Saumur.
When the land was auctioned his wife's dowry and his existing savings enabled him to buy substantial property, including some of the best area under vines, all at a very satisfactory price.
Though there was little sympathy locally for the Revolution, Grandet rose in esteem and became mayor, later yielding the post under the Empire only because Napoleon had no liking for republicans.
The townspeople take a lively interest in the competition, which is only natural since some sort of inheritance was the major route to prosperity in the early nineteenth century.
[2] Throughout this sequence we are treated to details of Felix Grandet's parsimony; this may have developed initially through sheer lack of funds but by now is total vice.
[note 2] Though his house is impressive externally it is old and run-down, and he is too miserly to repair it; their servant Nanon puts her foot through a rotten stair but faithfully saves the bottle she carries.
It is from brother Guillaume, unseen and unresponsive in Paris for 30 years asking Felix to assist Charles his son to travel to the Indies.
When she dies, Felix persuades Eugénie to sign away all of her entitlement to her mother's share of the joint property: he promises her a pittance of 100 francs a month.
His business activities include the illegal and the unethical, and he has continuously been unfaithful to Eugénie, whom he soon forgets, blinded by both greed, and by rage at the memory and realisation of Felix having swindled him.
Cruchot readily agrees, motivated by Eugénie's wealth, and ensures they both sign a will under which the deceased spouse leaves their entire fortune to the survivor.
The novel ends as it begins, with the latest round of suitors paying visits to the Grandet household, in the hope of marrying the wealthy Eugénie.
"[3] Christopher Prendergast writes "Eugenie's story is primarily of interest as the tale of a rite de passage from innocence to experience, ignorance to knowledge, illusion to disenchantment.
The start of his fortunes occur during the Revolution when he takes advantage of the opportunities at that time, pretending to be a committed Republican.