Story summary
Samenvatting van Indiana
- 8 min. leestijd
- 11 parts
- Binnenkort te beluisteren
A wounded intruder is carried into a quiet manor in Brie, and a young wife's first love begins.
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Indiana in het kort
Samenvatting: 8 min leestijd
- Leestijd
- Ongeveer 6 h 30 min5 h 10 min fast, 7 h 45 min slow
- Lengte
- 93.400 woorden
- Bibliotheekniveau
- Gemiddeld longer sentences, everyday words
- Voor het eerst verschenen
- 1832by George Sand
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Hoelang het duurt om de klassiekers te lezen · Bijgewerkt
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Indiana in short
Indiana is the story of a young woman who has been told her whole life to obey and who finally learns to choose. She marries an older soldier, falls for a brilliant neighbor and finds that his words are larger than his courage. Around her stand Noun, who loves and is lost, and Sir Ralph, whose silence hides more than anyone knows.
What Indiana is about
What happens when a young wife who has never been loved meets a man who knows exactly how to be loved? That is the question behind Indiana, the first novel by George Sand, published in 1832.
The story opens on a rainy evening in a small manor in Brie. Colonel Delmare, an old soldier with a temper, sits in silence with his nineteen-year-old wife, Indiana, and her calm English cousin, Sir Ralph Brown. A gunshot in the park, a bleeding stranger and a maid who faints will change all three lives. Sand later said she had no theory in mind, yet critics read the book as an attack on the laws of marriage, and she came to agree. You meet four people who want freedom, pleasure, order and quiet devotion.
Voor wie is het?. For readers who love passionate nineteenth-century French fiction, stories of marriage and freedom, and portraits of charming men who disappoint.
The story in 11 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A cold evening in a Brie manor
The novel opens in a salon where three people watch the logs burn. Colonel Delmare is much older than the others, bald, gray-mustached and ruled by rheumatism and bad temper. His wife Indiana is nineteen, pale and silent, and her cousin Sir Ralph sits opposite her with his pointer dog, Ophelia, nearby.
When Ophelia creeps toward Indiana for shelter, the colonel reaches for his hunting crop, and Indiana begs him not to hurt the animal. That small scene tells the whole marriage. Years before, he killed her spaniel in a fit of anger. Neither says what they mean, so each speaks past the other.
Then a gunshot sounds from the park, and a bleeding man is carried in. It is Indiana who steps forward with a lamp to tend him.
The opening shows a household where everyone is courteous and no one is heard.
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A stranger falls over the park wall
The wounded man is no thief.
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Raymon, a charming man who loves the chase
Sand pauses to draw her hero.
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A ball in Paris wakes Indiana's heart
At a ball given by the Spanish ambassador, a new face draws every eye.
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The night in the bedroom, and Noun's secret
Noun writes to Raymon in fear.
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Ralph, Raymon and a hunt that goes wrong
Two months later, the colonel invites Raymon to breakfast, and the man Indiana hates is welcomed as a friend.
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A warning, a lock of hair, and a knock at the door
When money troubles arrive, Delmare leaves for Belgium and Ralph stays to guard Indiana.
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A flight, a river and a ship to Bourbon
Indiana makes her own decision.
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Laws that bind a woman, and a will that does not
The book's loudest theme is the position of a wife under the law.
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Charm and devotion, two kinds of love
The second theme is the gap between love that talks and love that acts.
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How the story is told, and where it is set
Sand's narrator is no distant observer.
Read all 11 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Indiana Delmare A nineteen-year-old Creole wife, raised on Île Bourbon, who longs to be loved and refuses to be broken.
- Colonel Delmare Her husband, an older retired soldier and manufacturer, proud, jealous and rough, who believes every man is master in his own house.
- Sir Ralph Brown Indiana's English cousin and childhood friend, a calm, silent man who watches over her and hides what he feels.
- Raymon de Ramière A charming young nobleman and political writer who loves pursuit and eloquence more than the people he wins.
- Noun Indiana's Creole maid and foster sister, a warm, beautiful girl who gives her whole heart to Raymon.
- Madame de Ramière Raymon's kind mother, who survived the Revolution and wants to protect both her son and the woman he wrongs.
- Madame de Carvajal Indiana's aristocratic aunt in Paris, who loves society and judges by appearances.
How it ends (spoiler)
On Île Bourbon, Indiana and Ralph decide to die together at the waterfall of Bernica. At the edge, Ralph tells her the secret of his life, that he has loved her since childhood, and she answers his love. Something stops them from jumping, and they live. They settle in the ravine, spend their money freeing slaves and are happy together, while Raymon marries a wealthy heiress.
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Vragen over Indiana
What is Indiana by George Sand about?
It follows a young Creole wife, Indiana, who is married to an older colonel and falls for the charming Raymon de Ramière. Her cousin Sir Ralph and her maid Noun are drawn into the story of love, law and freedom.
Who is Sir Ralph in Indiana?
Sir Ralph Brown is Indiana's English cousin and childhood friend. He seems calm and cold, but he watches over her through every crisis, and his silence and loyalty matter more and more as the story goes on.
When was Indiana written and was it Sand's first novel?
George Sand wrote Indiana in the autumn of 1831, and it was her first novel under that name. She added prefaces in 1832, 1842 and 1852, where she explains how she came to see the book.
Is Indiana a book against marriage?
Sand first said she had no such plan, then in 1842 said she wrote it to protest laws that treat wives unjustly. The story shows what a marriage of unequal power does to both husband and wife.
Is Indiana easy to follow?
Yes, in the sense that it has a clear line of events, vivid scenes and a narrator who speaks directly to you. Short chapters, lively dialogue and strong characters carry you from a Brie manor to Paris and the island of Bourbon.
Verwijs naar deze uitgave
Sand, George. Indiana. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/indiana.
Sand, G. (2026). Indiana. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/indiana (Original work published 1832)
Sand, George. Indiana. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/indiana.
@book{sand2026indiana,
author = {Sand, George},
title = {Indiana},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/indiana},
note = {First published 1832}
}
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