Boule de Suif

During the war of 1870 ten travellers leave occupied Rouen in the same coach: notables, nuns and a prostitute nicknamed Boule de Suif. Held at an inn by a Prussian officer who states his terms, they discover what their principles are worth. The young woman, who alone fed her fellow passengers, becomes the target of every pressure. Around it the volume gathers other tales by Maupassant, returning to the occupation and the bargains of respectability. The author explores social hypocrisy and the fate of those with neither rank nor protection.