This short vignette from Honoré de Balzac, a key figure in French realism, is a story within a story. The narrator, Nathan, regales a pair of aristocratic ladies with stories about the Rusticoli family and its most prominent member, La Palferine. At first, his audience is unappreciative, but over time, they become wrapped up in the multi-generational saga. As part of our mission to publish great works of literary fiction and nonfiction, Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. is extremely dedicated to bringing to the forefront the amazing works of long dead and truly talented authors.