Eugénie Grandet is set in the town of Saumur, which should have been familiar to Balzac since he grew up in Tours about 35 miles away. The two towns are both on the Loire, with châteaux, and of similar size. Tours was much more important historically and politically, which may explain why Balzac allows the impression in the opening that the Grandet residence was Saumur's most important building. Though Balzac grew up in the aftermath of the Revolution, he came to adulthood in Paris under the restored Bourbon monarchy (Louis XVIII & Charles X) and wrote most of what we know under the July Monarchy (1830–1848) of Louis Philippe, which came to power when the revolution of 1830 deposed the Bourbon monarchy. It is worth noting that though the Republic had replaced the Livre with the Franc (of equal value), both continued to circulate, as did the Louis (20 livres).
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