Amazon.com description: Product Description: [Translated by Margaret Mauldon]

*This intriguing tale is the basis for the 2012 film starring Robert Pattinson, Christina Ricci, and Uma Thurman.

Originally published in France in 1885, Bel-Ami is Guy de Maupassant's second novel. This chronicle of Georges Duroy's corrupt rise to power, from a poor ex-soldier to one of the most successful men in Paris, is a fascinating tale. Though a cynical and forthright work, Bel-Ami also radiates with the joy of life, vividly illuminating the people and places of Paris with wit, sensitivity, and humanity.

The young, good-looking Georges Duroy, known to his friends as Bel-Ami, has been working as a clerk in Paris for six months. When a chance encounter presents him with a new career opportunity as a journalist, he takes it, his great ambition gradually pushing him toward the top until he lands the position of chief editor. Duroy's success brings him face to face with the realities of the corrupt society in which he lives--sleazy colleagues, manipulative mistresses, and crafty financiers--and he soon bows to the corruption. In a world where love is merely a means to an end, Georges Duroy takes on the parts of archseducer, blackmailer, and social climber.