This classic play follows the story of a merchant in Venice who is in dire financial straits and borrows money from a Jewish moneylender, promising a pound of his own flesh as collateral. When he is unable to repay the debt, the moneylender demands his due, leading to a court case and moral dilemma about mercy and justice. Meanwhile, the moneylender's daughter elopes with a Christian, further complicating the relationships between characters. The narrative explores themes of prejudice, love, and the law.

A spare, philosophical novel that follows an individual's moral crisis as he confronts guilt, faith and the nature of compassion. Through quiet psychological observation and subtle dialogue, the story examines responsibility, forgiveness and the search for meaning without revealing key plot points.

Set in early 19th-century France, the first volume follows a hardened ex-convict who, transformed by a bishop’s unexpected mercy, adopts a new identity and rises to respectability as a factory owner and mayor while being shadowed by a relentless inspector; he encounters the tragic downfall of a young working-class woman whose illegitimate daughter is cruelly exploited by unscrupulous innkeepers, and, moved by conscience, he vows to rescue the child, confronting legal dangers, social injustice, and the moral conflict between his past and his desire to redeem both himself and those crushed by poverty.