La Mere Bauche From Tales of All Countries

"La Mère Bauche" by Anthony Trollope is a story set in a peaceful valley located in the Pyrenees Mountains, where a tough thermal hotel owner, La Mère Bauche, deals with her son Adolphe's desire to marry Marie, an orphan she raised. The novel explores themes of love, what society expects, and a mother's command as Adolphe returns home after two years, wanting to marry his childhood friend, Marie, but his mother believes she is not good enough for him because she doesn't have a high social status. La Mère Bauche's need to control things gets worse when she decides her son should marry the older Capitaine Campan, who would be a better match socially leaving the young lovers struggling with their feelings and outside pressures, and her pushing Marie to marry Capitaine Campan leads to a sad end, showing how tough love can be when family and society get in the way.