Modeste Mignon is a novel about amorous imagination and the mirage of literary glory. Modeste, the younger daughter of the merchant Charles Mignon — ruined, then gone abroad to rebuild his fortune — lives in seclusion at Le Havre. Romantic and steeped in poetry, she begins, under an assumed name, an ardent correspondence with the famous poet Canalis, whom she idealizes and believes she loves through his verse. But Canalis, vain and calculating, does not deign to reply himself: he charges his secretary, Ernest de La Brière, a sincere and unassuming man, to hold the pen in his place. In writing these letters, Ernest truly falls in love with Modeste, without daring to confess the deception. Later, when Canalis learns that Modeste is rich, he suddenly takes an interest in her and enters into rivalry with his own secretary to win the heiress. There ensues a sentimental comedy in which Modeste — courted by the famous poet, the modest secretary, and a third suitor, the Duc d'Hérouville — must distinguish true love from vanity and self-interest. She comes to recognize that nobility of heart is worth more than the prestige of a name, and chooses Ernest de La Brière. Balzac sets the real poetry of feeling against the façade-poetry of fashionable men of letters, and mocks the illusions of an over-romantic girl while finally granting her the lucidity of the heart. Written in homage to Mme Hanska, the novel is among the most amiable of the cycle: it blends satire of the literary world, a study of the provinces, and a delicate picture of awakening love. It is also a reflection on the gap between the writer and his work.