Éveline Hanska

…1832 Balzac became friendly with Éveline Hanska, a Polish countess who was married to an elderly Ukrainian landowner. She, like many other women, had written to Balzac expressing admiration of his writings. They met twice in Switzerland in 1833—the second time in Geneva, where they became lovers—and again in Vienna…

…novelist Honoré de Balzac married Eveline Hanska, a wealthy Polish widow, in 1850 after an 18-year courtship. In the 19th century Berdychiv developed into an important centre of trade and light industry; it became for a time the fourth largest city in Ukraine. During this period the city’s population was…