Mademoiselle La Quintinie — George Sand

George Sand, the pen name of Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin (1804-76), was a French novelist, memoirist and socialist, recognised as one of the most notable writers of the European Romantic era. She was born in Paris and raised for much of her childhood by her grandmother at her estate in the province of Berry, which Sand later used as the setting for many of her novels. She adopted an unconventional lifestyle, donning male attire and smoking in public, and in 1831 left her husband, whom she had narried at 18 in 1822, to enter upon a period of 'romantic rebellion' before legally separating in 1835 and taking custody of their two children. She had affairs with a number of prominent literary figures including Prosper Merimee and Alfred de Musset, and a long relationship with the composer, Chopin. By the age of 27 she was the most popular writer in Europe, remaining immensely influential throughout her lifetime and long after her death. In 1836 the first of several compendia of her writings was published in 24 volumes and in total four separate editions of her 'Complete Works' were published in her lifetime. Mademoiselle de Quintinie is a novel first published in 1863 which combines a love story with a study of manners and reflections on religion. It addresses the question of religious conservatism, in particular Catholicism, at the time of its publication. Written in epistolary form, it tells the story of a young man, Emile, who has inherited his father's progressive ideals, who falls in love with Lucie, the daughter of an authoritarian general, from a conservative Catholic background. Reprinted from an original French language edition.