"A Start in Life" by Honoré de Balzac is a novel serialized in 1842. A young man's foolish boasting during a stagecoach journey sets off a chain of consequences that will shape his future. When Oscar Husson pretends to know a wealthy count traveling incognito and reveals embarrassing secrets, he inadvertently destroys his own prospects. Forced to rebuild his life repeatedly after successive indiscretions, Oscar must learn whether youthful vanity can ever be overcome, or if a single mistake can haunt someone forever. (This is an automatically generated summary.)