Marianne

Published in the U.S. for the first time, this novella by Sand was written in 1876, the year of her death. Marianne Chevreuse, the 25-year-old heroine of this romantic tale set in 1825, is a character who embodies many of the ideas for which Sand is known. Marianne is independent yet intensely female, and she breaks many conventions of society while living by her own deeply held moral beliefs. Pierre Andre is an older man who has known her since her childhood. When asked to introduce her to a prospective suitor, he discovers his own love for Marianne. The plot twists and turns until the unsuitable Philippe Gaucherwho is indeed gaucheis sent packing and Pierre and Marianne are betrothed. While very much a period piece, this last scrap of Sand's tremendous oeuvre is a charming bit of entertainment. Miles has fleshed out the book with an illuminating introduction that functions as a brief biography of la Bonne Dame de Nohant, complete with many letters from the Sand-Flaubert correspondence. Sand's enormous influence on writers from Balzac to Dostoevsky to Turgenev is legend. This little story offers an exciting opportunity for one last glimpse of that genius. (July)