"Boule de Suif", translated variously as "Dumpling", "Butterball", "Ball of Fat", or "Ball of Lard", is a short story by the late-19th-century French writer Guy de Maupassant, first published on 15/16 April 1880. It is arguably his most famous short story and is the title story for his collection on the Franco-Prussian War, titled Boule de Suif et Autres Contes de la Guerre.
Cover of an edition of "Boule de Suif"
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a 19th-century French author, celebrated as a master of the short story, as well as a representative of the naturalist school, depicting human lives, destinies and social forces in disillusioned and often pessimistic terms.
Photograph by Nadar
Guy de Maupassant aged 7
Guy de Maupassant and his mother, Laure
His father, Gustave de Maupassant, by Hippolyte Bellangé