About the book: 2017 / The novel found a place for a positive socio-political program, which, according to Balzac, was supposed to improve the health of bourgeois France. The exponent of Balzac's socio-political ideals in this novel is the village doctor Benasi, who seeks to use the struggle of private interests for the benefit of society, limiting the predation of the rich with the help of the church and religious education.