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.
Who will love it
For readers who love letters and diaries, who enjoy stories of marriage and friendship, and who like a hero with a deep inner life and a bold argument about freedom in love.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A girl of seventeen meets a soldier
- Everyone has a story about Jacques
- Jacques and Sylvia, two proud souls
- Happiness in the valley turns to small clouds
- Sylvia comes, and a ghost walks the grounds
- A friend becomes a danger
- Flight, scandal and the cost of silence
- Jacques fights the world and then himself
- What the book is really about
Who’s who
- JacquesA scarred former soldier, calm and proud, who marries a young woman and promises never to be her master.
- Fernande de TheursanA warm, impulsive girl of seventeen who loves Jacques deeply but cannot bear what he leaves unsaid.
- SylviaA brilliant, independent woman raised by Jacques, who is devoted to him and wary of love.
- OctaveA charming, changeable young man who follows Sylvia in disguise and then falls for Fernande.
- Clémence de LuxeuilFernande's friend in a Paris convent, who answers every confidence with strict reason.
- Madame de TheursanFernande's mother, ambitious and cold, who wants her daughter's fortune secure.
- Colonel BorelJacques's old army friend, blunt and loyal, who guards his friend's honor in his own rough way.
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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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Read and hear Jacques 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.
Jacques
by George Sand · 1834
A scarred soldier of thirty-five marries a girl of seventeen and vows never to rule her.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
What happens when a husband promises never to be his wife's master, and then must keep that promise while his own heart breaks? George Sand tells the story of Jacques and Fernande through letters, with a brief closing note.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A girl of seventeen meets a soldier
The novel opens with letters from Fernande de Theursan to her friend Clémence. She is about to marry Jacques, a retired army officer who smokes a pipe, looks young for his years and carries a quiet sadness. He has wealth, and her mother, who is cold and calculating, is delighted by it.
Fernande tells how he carried soup with her to old Marguerite, secretly left a purse, and then cut short the old woman's thanks. He cannot bear gratitude, and she cannot explain why. Clémence answers from her convent with sharp warnings about the gap in age, the haste of the match and the mother's motives.
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What is Jacques by George Sand about?
It follows Jacques, a retired soldier, and his young wife Fernande. Through letters, we see their marriage, his friendship with Sylvia, and the arrival of a young man named Octave, who tests every promise.
Why is Jacques told in letters?
The letters let each character speak in a private voice, so the reader sees what they confess to a friend and what they hide from each other. This gives the story its suspense and its close view of feelings.
Who is Sylvia in the novel?
Sylvia is a strong, independent woman whom Jacques found as a child in the Alps and raised. He calls her his sister, and her true parentage is a secret that matters later.
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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