13 h 34 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if you believe marriage must never be a cage, yet cannot promise that love will last?
Jacques knows passion and disappointment before he marries Fernande, a young woman full of trust and affection. He believes love cannot be commanded, even by a marriage vow. In George Sand’s novel in letters, his convictions meet the tangled feelings of married life. When the charming younger Octave enters their circle, those feelings begin to shift.
Jacques and Fernande tell their own stories through letters, while friends add views that complicate what you think you know. Sylvia, deeply bound to Jacques, watches thoughtfully; Borel offers opinions from outside. Each voice brings you closer to a difficult question: can a person protect another’s freedom without turning sacrifice into a matter of pride?
What you’ll discover
- A husband divided Meet a proud man whose belief in freedom tests his understanding of love.
- A wife finding her way Follow Fernande as trust and affection meet the unexpected complexity of marriage.
- Letters that challenge certainty See the same events through different eyes, and decide whose account you trust.
- The weight of sacrifice Consider when giving something up for another becomes generosity, duty, or pride.
- Feeling in the landscape Enter a Romantic world where solitary thought and surrounding landscapes echo strong emotions.
Is it for you?
This book suits readers who enjoy Romantic fiction, letters as a way of telling a story, and debates about love and duty. It may feel slow if you want fast action, since much of the drama lies in feeling and argument.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A man with a past takes a wife
- Letters let each person speak for themselves
- A third person enters the circle
- Jacques thinks marriage should never be a cage
- Love, sacrifice and the weight of honor
- A Romantic novel built from voices
Who’s who
- JacquesA proud, worldly man with a stormy past who marries a young wife and holds strict ideas about love and freedom.
- FernandeA young, sincere woman who enters marriage with trust and affection and slowly learns how complex love can be.
- OctaveA charming younger man whose arrival in the circle changes the feelings of everyone around him.
- SylviaA close friend of Jacques whose deep bond with him makes her a thoughtful witness to his marriage.
- BorelA friend who watches the events from outside and writes his own opinions about the people involved.
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- Audiobook
- 13 h 34 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 6 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Language: Français
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A man with a past takes a wife
The story centers on Jacques, a man who has lived a good deal before the book begins. He is no longer young, and he carries the marks of earlier passions and disappointments. Other characters see him as proud, serious and hard to read. He has a reputation for strong feeling held under tight control.
He marries Fernande, a young woman with little experience of the world. She is sincere and warm, and she enters marriage with trust and affection. Sand makes clear that the two do not stand on equal ground. He knows what life can do to people, and she does not.
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The author
George Sand
1804–1876 · French novelist and memoirist
George Sand was the pen name of Aurore Dupin, a French novelist and memoirist. She was born in Paris in 1804 and died at Nohant in 1876. She lived in Paris and Nohant. Her novels include Indiana (1832), Mauprat (1837), The Devil’s Pool (1846), and Little Fadette (1849).
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What is Jacques by George Sand about?
It is a novel in letters about a worldly man named Jacques who marries a much younger woman, Fernande. It follows how their feelings, and those of the people near them, test his ideas about love, freedom and honor.
Why is Jacques written as letters?
The letter form lets each character speak in their own voice, with no single narrator to guide you. You see the same events through different eyes and must judge who understands whom.
When was Jacques written and is it a true story?
Sand published Jacques in 1834. It is fiction, but it draws on real debates of the time about marriage, women's legal position and the demands of romantic love in France.
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