7 h 10 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 girl a village fears is the one who sees its people most clearly?
In the Berry countryside, twin brothers Landry and Sylvinet Barbeau face a painful separation. Landry goes to work at a neighboring farm, while Sylvinet stays closer to home. Their deep bond comes under strain as Landry learns to stand on his own and Sylvinet struggles with jealousy. Around them, farm work and village gossip shape daily life.
Then Landry loses his way near the river Cosson in darkness and mist. Fadette, a poor girl the neighbors call ugly and suspect of witchcraft, knows the paths and water. In Little Fadette, George Sand brings these lives into a gentle romance that asks how love can grow where pride, class, and prejudice stand in its way.
What you’ll discover
- A heroine who resists labels Meet sharp-tongued Fadette, who sees through people and wants respect on her own terms.
- The strain of twinship Follow Landry and Sylvinet as separation turns brotherly closeness into a source of pain.
- A river in the mist Step into the darkness where Fadette's knowledge helps Landry find his way.
- Beyond the village verdict Look beneath gossip to explore how prejudice survives even when the evidence challenges it.
- The warmth of country storytelling Enjoy Sand's humor among farm families, hemp fields, and tales told on winter evenings.
Who will love it
For readers who love gentle, character-driven stories, country settings, and heroines who think for themselves. It also rewards anyone curious about nineteenth-century France.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Twin brothers who cannot be parted
- Landry leaves home for a new farm
- Fadette, the girl the village fears
- A night by the river changes everything
- What the novel is really about
- How Sand tells the country tale
Who’s who
- Landry BarbeauOne of the twin sons of a farming family, strong and cheerful, who must learn to stand apart from his brother and from village opinion.
- Sylvinet BarbeauLandry's twin, gentle and anxious, whose deep love for his brother becomes jealous and painful when they are parted.
- FadetteFrançoise Fadet, a poor, sharp-tongued girl thought to be a witch, who sees people clearly and wants respect on her own terms.
- Mother FadetFadette's grandmother, a village healer feared and half trusted by the neighbors, who raises her granddaughter in poverty.
- JeannetFadette's small, lame younger brother, whom she guards fiercely against the teasing of other children.
- Father BarbeauThe twins' father, a hardworking farmer who must decide how to place his sons in a world of limited land.
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- Paperback
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- 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
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Little Fadette
by George Sand · 1849
In Berry, Landry must learn to see beyond village opinion when a poor girl called a witch asks for respect.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
Twin brothers who cannot be parted
The story opens in a village in Berry, where a farmer named Barbeau lives with his wife and their twin sons. The boys are born so alike that neighbors struggle to tell them apart. Landry and Sylvinet are the pride of the house, and for years they do everything together.
Still, the brothers are not the same inside. Landry is strong, cheerful and eager to be out in the fields. Sylvinet is gentler and more anxious. He is treated by the family as the more delicate one, and he grows used to being fussed over.
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What is Little Fadette about?
It is a rural French novel about twin brothers, Landry and Sylvinet, and a poor girl called Fadette whom the village thinks is a witch. It follows jealousy, prejudice, growing up and a changing love.
What does the name Fadette mean?
It comes from a word for a little fairy or sprite. The villagers use it as a mocking nickname for the girl, because they think she has strange powers like her grandmother.
When was Little Fadette written and where is it set?
George Sand published it in 1849. It is set in Berry, in central France, the countryside where she grew up. It is fiction, but it draws on real rural customs and speech.
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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