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This book is Stendhal's masterpiece. It is still recognized today as the most dazzling and exquisite artistic gem in the crown of European literature. It is one of the most classic works describing political darkness in the history of literature. The protagonist Julien is the son of a small business owner. With his intelligence, he hooked up with the mayor's wife when he was working as a tutor in the local mayor's house. After the affair was exposed, he fled the mayor's house and entered the seminary. Recommended by the dean of the seminary, he went to Paris to work as a personal secretary for the Marquis de Larmore, a backbone of the extreme royalist party. He was quickly appreciated and reused by the Marquis. At the same time, Julien had an affair with the Marquis' daughter. Finally, under the church's planning, the mayor's wife was forced to write an informant letter to expose him, ruining his career. In anger, he shot and wounded the mayor's wife and was sentenced to death and put on the guillotine.