Felipe Derblay, propietario de una siderurgia, está enamorado de una joven de la nobleza, que a su vez está enamorada de un primo suyo arruinado. Un rico propietario le ofrece a éste pagar todas sus deudas a cambio de que se case con su hija.

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The French Pride and Prejudice

It is the story of a spoiled young girl who comes from a rich family and is supposed to have an opulent dowry. For the middle and upper class, the woman with no money had no use. If you were poor, the woman had a role, she could work, but it was not allowed for a middle class girl (you can verify that by reading Quality Street. For a long time, girls did only get married if they had some money. In France, it was a consideration until 1940. After the war, women had jobs and everything changed.
So the girl thinks she has money, but her parents are ruined. When the ironmaster is willing to marry her, she thinks he is after her money and she despises him for it: he is industrialist: he has no class. He answers by ignoring her. The conflict is the essence of the book.
I enjoyed the book when I was a teenager. I cannot tell you about its literary qualities. But I still remember it, over 50 years later, so there must be something strong in it. ( )