Armance, Stendhal's first novel, is set in Restoration Paris among the aristocracy. Octave de Malivert is a brilliant, gloomy young nobleman burdened by a secret that makes him wary of closeness. His cousin Armance, intelligent and poor, becomes his companion, and their relationship is shaped by pride, misunderstanding and the pressure of family and society. The book is a quiet psychological study of reserve and self-torment, and an early example of Stendhal's interest in the hidden workings of feeling.