8 h 55 minAudiobook8 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 the longing you cannot resist becomes the spell your neighbours fear?
On the wind-blown heath of Lessay, in Normandy after the French Revolution, Jeanne Le Hardouey lives in a calm but hollow marriage. Her husband, Thomas, prizes order and his good name. Then the Abbé de la Croix-Jugan enters their world: a scarred priest, once a royalist fighter, whose dark reputation makes Jeanne's growing attraction more troubling.
As Jeanne struggles against her longing, neighbours whisper at doors, in fields and after Mass. Is she bewitched, or caught in a desire her world cannot allow? In The Bewitched, Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly draws church faith and folk belief close together. Empty heath, a ruined abbey and memories of the Chouan wars give this slow Gothic tale its uneasy ground.
What you’ll discover
- A landscape that broods Cross the heath of Lessay, where the land feels as alive as its people.
- Longing against good sense Follow Jeanne toward a forbidden attachment that unsettles her marriage and draws village scrutiny.
- The priest's dark presence Meet Jéhoël, whose scarred face and royalist past disturb the quiet of country life.
- Faith beside folk belief Encounter La Clotte's strange knowledge and the gentler parish faith of the Abbé Méautis.
- A slow gathering unease Linger over faces, fields and customs as ornate storytelling gives each detail its weight.
Who will love it
For readers who love dark romance, Gothic atmosphere and the French nineteenth century, and anyone curious about the Chouan wars. Faith, superstition and forbidden attraction meet in the haunted landscape of Normandy.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A haunted heath sets the stage
- Jeanne's marriage is calm but hollow
- A scarred priest comes among them
- Village whispers turn longing into witchcraft
- Obsession and faith pull against each other
- A tale told in a rich, strange voice
Who’s who
- Jeanne Le HardoueyA quiet farm wife whose hidden longings are noticed by the whole village, and who finds herself drawn toward a forbidden mystery.
- Thomas Le HardoueyJeanne's husband, a prosperous and proud peasant who values order and his good name above all.
- The Abbé de la Croix-JuganA priest, also called Jéhoël, with a scarred face and a past as a royalist fighter, who carries a dark reputation.
- La ClotteA crippled woman of the district, thought to hold strange knowledge, who speaks for the old folk beliefs.
- The Abbé MéautisA parish priest of plainer, gentler faith, who watches over the community and contrasts with the scarred priest.
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- Large print hardcover
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L'indemoniata
by J. Barbey d'Aurevilly · 1854
A farmer's wife is drawn toward a scarred priest as village whispers turn forbidden love into witchcraft.
Challenging5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Bewitched is a novel by the French writer Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly, first published in 1854 under the title L'Ensorcelée. It is set in his native Normandy, in the Cotentin country, in the years after the French Revolution, when royalist rebels known as the Chouans still haunted the memory of every village.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A haunted heath sets the stage
The tale opens in the Cotentin, the western peninsula of Normandy, where the great heath of Lessay stretches out under a low sky. Barbey treats this ground as more than a backdrop. It is flat, bare and windy, and it carries the weight of old battles and older legends. Travellers cross it with a feeling that something unseen is watching.
The story is passed along as something told, a local history handed from one speaker to another. That gives it the feel of a fireside tale, the kind that people in the villages repeated for years. The narrator seems to know the families and the quarrels, and he draws you into a community where everyone knows everyone's business. Gossip is a force in this world, as strong as the weather.
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What is The Bewitched about?
It is a gothic novel set in Normandy after the Revolution. A farmer's wife is drawn toward a scarred priest with a violent past, and neighbours say she is under a spell.
What does L'Ensorcelée mean?
It is the French title of the book and means the bewitched woman. The word points to Jeanne Le Hardouey, whom the villagers believe to be under a spell.
Who were the Chouans in The Bewitched?
The Chouans were royalist and Catholic rebels in western France who fought against the revolutionary government in the 1790s. The priest in the story is a former fighter of this movement.
The author
Jules Barbey d'Aurevilly
French novelist and critic
Jules Barbey d’Aurevilly was a French novelist, short-story writer, and literary critic. He was born in Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte, Normandy, in 1808 and died in Paris in 1889. He lived in Normandy and Paris. His books include The Bewitched, published in book form in 1854, and Les Diaboliques, published in 1874.
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