11 h 15 minAudiobook4 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 marriage that protects your family’s name leaves no room for your heart?
In the countryside of Berry, Valentine grows up with the duties of an old noble family. Her mother, Madame de Raimbault, values rank and gain, and a match with Count de Lansac promises both. Affection has no place in these plans, yet Valentine believes in loyalty to her family and her word.
Then there is Bénédict: educated, proud, sensitive, and born into a farming family. Drawn to Valentine, he stands uneasily between the land and the great house. In George Sand’s romance, their feelings cross a line that family ambition keeps firmly drawn. Valentine’s struggle turns inward: how can she honour her promises when her heart refuses to obey?
What you’ll discover
- A heart under pressure Follow a gentle, dutiful woman whose feelings resist the future her family chooses.
- Love across social lines Meet Bénédict, whose education and pride cannot erase the weight of his farming origins.
- Marriage as family business See how rank and money shape a match where affection carries little weight.
- The countryside of Berry Enter a rural world where the land and the great house stand apart.
- Room for difficult feelings Settle into a slow, feeling-led story of loyalty, longing, and the claims of duty.
Who will love it
For readers who love French romantic fiction, stories of love across social lines, and country settings painted with care.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A noble daughter in the French countryside
- A marriage arranged for rank and gain
- Love that crosses the line of class
- Duty, feeling, and how Sand tells it
Who’s who
- ValentineA young noblewoman of Berry, gentle and dutiful, who is bound by her family's plans yet cannot silence her own feelings.
- BénédictA proud, educated young man of farming origins who feels the weight of class and is drawn to Valentine.
- Count de LansacA polished man of the world, chosen as Valentine's future husband through family interest and ambition.
- Madame de RaimbaultValentine's mother, practical and attached to rank, who sees marriage as a matter of family position and gain.
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- 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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Read and hear Valentina in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Valentina
by George Sand · 1832
In Berry, a young noblewoman's love for a man of humbler birth clashes with her family's marriage plans.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 4
A noble daughter in the French countryside
The story opens in Berry, in the years after the great upheavals that reshaped France. Valentine belongs to the old nobility, and her family name matters a great deal to those around her. In this world, a daughter is not asked what she wants. She is a part of the family's position, and her future is a matter for her elders.
Sand sets this against the quiet land around the estate. There are farms, lanes, and villages, and the people who work the soil live close to the great house yet far from its circle. This closeness without equality is the key to the whole book. Sand knew this countryside well, and her care for its look and its people shows on the page.
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What is Valentine by George Sand about?
It is a romantic novel about a young noblewoman in the French countryside who is expected to follow her family's plans for marriage, while her feelings are drawn toward a man of lower social standing.
When was Valentine by George Sand written?
Valentine was published in 1832, early in Sand's career as a novelist. It came soon after Indiana and helped establish her as an important voice in French romantic literature.
Where is Valentine set?
The novel is set in Berry, in central France. It was the region where Sand grew up, and she describes its fields, villages, and country life with close affection.
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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