5 h 34 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 5 h 34 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when one brother’s good fortune makes the other question everything his family holds together?
On a fishing trip off Le Havre, the Roland family seems at ease. Then news arrives: their longtime friend Léon Maréchal has died, leaving his fortune to Jean alone. For Pierre, a doctor whose practice struggles, his younger brother’s inheritance sharpens an old sense that life always favours Jean.
As Jean looks toward marriage with Madame Rosémilly, Pierre begins to study familiar faces and habits for evidence. Their mother, Louise, longs for peace but fears what his questions might uncover. In Pierre and Jean, Guy de Maupassant follows jealousy into an ordinary home, where love and trust begin to give way to doubt.
What you’ll discover
- Brothers pulled apart Follow Pierre and Jean as unequal fortunes put their affection under painful pressure.
- A mother’s anxious silence Meet Louise, whose wish for household peace meets her fear of a searching question.
- Suspicion taking root Watch Pierre search familiar faces and old habits for signs he can no longer ignore.
- Life beside the port Enter middle-class Le Havre, from a family fishing trip to the tensions within its home.
- The art of fiction Explore Maupassant’s prefatory essay alongside a story shaped by close attention to ordinary lives.
Who will love it
For readers who enjoy close studies of family tension and the mind under pressure, and anyone who loves French fiction about jealousy, secrets and fragile trust.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A family at ease on the water
- A will that favours one son
- Pierre's jealousy takes root
- Suspicion looks for proof
- A house divided by silence
- What the novel is about and how it works
Who’s who
- Pierre RolandThe elder son, a doctor with a struggling practice, proud and restless, who cannot shake a painful suspicion about his family.
- Jean RolandThe younger son, a lawyer, warm and easygoing, who wants to marry and keep his brother's friendship.
- Louise RolandThe mother of both sons, gentle and anxious, who longs for peace in her house and fears what a question might uncover.
- Gérome RolandThe father, a retired jeweller who loves fishing and his family, cheerful and unaware of the trouble growing around him.
- Madame RosémillyA sensible young widow of some means, whom Jean hopes to marry and who watches the family with a clear eye.
- Léon MaréchalA longtime family friend whose will to Jean sets the whole story in motion.
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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
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- Large print hardcover
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Pierre and Jean
by Guy de Maupassant · 1888
A friend's will favours Jean, and Pierre's growing suspicion threatens the peace of their family in Le Havre.
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In short
Pierre and Jean is a short novel by Guy de Maupassant, published in 1888. It is set in Le Havre, the busy port on the coast of Normandy, and it follows one ordinary family whose peace breaks over a single piece of news.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A family at ease on the water
The novel opens on a fishing trip off Le Havre. Old Monsieur Roland, a retired jeweller, has taken his wife Louise, his two sons and a young widow, Madame Rosémilly, out on a small boat called the Perle. The brothers take the oars themselves. Roland loves fishing, and he is proud of his boat, his sons and his small place in the world.
The scene sets up the people we will watch. Roland is simple, talkative and good-hearted, a man who retired to the coast to enjoy himself. His wife is gentle, devoted and a little anxious. Pierre, the elder son, is a doctor, and Jean, the younger, is a lawyer. They are close in age, and on this day they seem close in heart.
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What is Pierre and Jean about?
It is about two brothers in Le Havre whose bond is strained when a family friend leaves his fortune to the younger one. The elder brother, Pierre, begins to doubt his family, and jealousy and silence take hold.
When was Pierre and Jean written?
Maupassant published it in 1888. It is a work of fiction, not a true story, though it draws on the Normandy coast and middle-class life that he knew well.
Is Pierre and Jean a hard book to read?
No. It is short, clearly written and has few characters.
The author
Guy de Maupassant
1850–1893 · French novelist and story writer
Guy de Maupassant was a French writer born in Normandy in 1850. He wrote short stories and novels, including A Woman’s Life (1883), Bel-Ami (1885), The Horla (1887), and Pierre and Jean (1888). He lived in France, worked as a government clerk in Paris, and died in Paris in 1893.
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