Marianne

This is a novella not a novel. Don't be fooled by the page length. More than half of the book is given over to ancillary material. Sand's story runs only about 80 pages. Still, it's worth buying and reading. The story is rather slight. It's a romance that unfolds over the course of only a couple of days. But Sand sketches her characters memorably and creates genuine suspense over the outcome of the heroine's choice. Not a masterpiece, but a great way to introduce yourself to one of the world's great writers.

Marianne is a heroine that is not beloved for her typical beauty, and is not a slave to the expected behavior of young wealthy women. This is somewhat of a faery tale romance, without seeming unreal or contrived. Sand presents the two main characters as real, intellegent, and passionate about nature. It is nice to read a book about a strong woman without the author feeling she needed to sway to much in the women's lib direction. George Sand's life is an inspiration, as is this romance where two kindred souls overcome the standard ideas of age, meekness, and the expected behavior of the classes. I read this at the same time as Dumas' Camille, and in only two days. I couldn't wait to see what happened to the characters in these books.