Balzac Museum, Azay-le-Rideau

The Musée Balzac occupies the Château de Saché, a 15th-century manor house near Azay-le-Rideau where French novelist Honoré de Balzac stayed regularly between 1825 and 1848. Balzac used Saché as a retreat from Parisian creditors and distractions, working 14 to 16 hours daily in his small second-floor bedroom. Several major works of La Comédie humaine were written here, including Le Père Goriot, Le Lys dans la Vallée (directly inspired by the surrounding Indre Valley landscape), and Illusions perdues.