Veronique Graslin is a woman of strength.

Despite being scarred by smallpox at 11, and then railroaded into a miserable marriage with a man who resembles an "antique satyr", she builds a life of wealth and good works in the French countryside.

But, nibbling away at her conscience like a persistent rat, there is a dark secret that will not let her go.

After Veronique encounters two criminals, as well as Monsieur Bonnet, the insightful rector, she feels that her soul is being "ploughed".

Balzac's novel mixes the spiritual with the political, exposing rural injustice, and railing against the horrific conditions endured by criminals on the French galleys.

All the time, he tiptoes toward the big reveal: what is Veronique's secret?

If you like 'Bleak House' by Charles Dickens and 'Les Miserables' by Victor Hugo, you will enjoy 'The Village Rector'.

Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) was a French novelist and playwright, most famous for a sequence of novels, collectively called 'The Human Comedy'. His signature style was a warts-and-all representation of post-Napoleonic French life, rich in detail and featuring complex, unfiltered characters.

The style means Balzac is regarded as one of the pioneers of European literary realism. He is named as an influence on writers including Emile Zola, Henry James, Charles Dickens, and Gustave Flaubert.

The first novel he published under his own name was 'Les Chouans' in 1829. In 1834 he hit upon the idea of grouping his novels together to record all of society. The result, over a period of years, was 'The Human Comedy', which comprised three categories: 'Analytic Studies'; 'Philosophical Studies'; and 'Studies of Manners'.