"The Vicar of Tours" by Honoré de Balzac is a novella written in 1832. Two priests share lodgings in the home of a bitter spinster in Tours, France. The gentle Abbé Birotteau finds himself outmaneuvered by his ambitious fellow priest Troubert, who cunningly seizes his rooms, furniture, and cherished library. As Birotteau's aristocratic allies mysteriously withdraw their support, he discovers the devastating power of celibate obsession and the dark influence of religious politics in Charles X's France. (This is an automatically generated summary.)