11 h 15 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 11 h 15 minPaperback · 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
This book suits readers who love romantic novels with moral stakes, French country settings, and rich portraits of class and family. If music, landscape and conscience move you, you will feel at home.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A kiss crosses a social boundary
- Bénédict belongs fully to neither world
- Kindness opens a hidden family door
- A day of play reveals love
- Marriage turns duty into a trap
- A hidden peace depends on secrecy
- Money gives marriage its harsh power
- Love and conscience pull Valentine apart
- Feeling presses against duty and rank
Who’s who
- Valentine de RaimbaultA gentle, devout noblewoman who longs for a simple home and loves her banished sister, and who is drawn against her will to a farmer's nephew.
- Bénédict LhéryA restless, gifted young man, raised above his class, who wants a purpose and finds it in a hopeless love for Valentine.
- LouiseValentine's older half-sister, banished long ago, who raises her son alone and hides at the farm to see the family she lost.
- Athénaïs LhéryThe vain, warm-hearted farmer's daughter who is promised to Bénédict and wants to rise in the world, whatever it costs.
- Monsieur de LansacA polished diplomat who marries Valentine for her fortune and wants only to pay his debts without scandal.
- The Countess de RaimbaultValentine's proud, bitter mother, a merchant's daughter who loved court life and now guards her rank and her lawsuits.
- Pierre BluttyA rich, rough cattle dealer's son who wins Athénaïs and burns with jealousy of her cousin.
- ValentinLouise's gentle son, who looks like Valentine and finds a second home with her and Bénédict.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- Read by Lucas Linden, complete. It opens once the recording is online.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 14 minutes, to read today.
- 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.
Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout. The eBook and the audiobook open when the book texts go online.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then USD 0.14 a day in your first year on the yearly plan and USD 0.27 a day after, or USD 0.66 a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Valentine in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Valentine
by George Sand · 1832
On May Day in rural Berry, one stolen kiss at a village dance pulls a farmer's nephew toward a countess's daughter.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
Learn a language with medium classicsSpanishFrenchGermanItalianJapanesePortugueseEnglishHow we measure levels
Excellent
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then USD 0.14 a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
“Valentine has more of the really admirable description of her beloved Berry with which the author so often honeys her drugs; but the novel-part of it is largely composed of the same sort of violent bosh which almost monopolises Indiana.”
In short
Why does one kiss at a village dance matter so much? On May Day in Berry, in central France, a hurdy-gurdy player pushes Bénédict, a farmer's nephew with a city education, to kiss Valentine de Raimbault.
Valentine at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 25 min5 h 5 min fast, 7 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 91,100 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1832by George Sand
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A hidden valley hosts one May Day fair
The story opens in the Black Valley, a corner of Berry where lanes sink between hedges and a village means a church tower, a dozen cottages and four elm trees. Sand describes it with the care of someone who grew up there. The place is not a backdrop but a presence that shapes every character.
On May first the whole district goes to a fair. At the farm of Grangeneuve, the tenant Father Lhéry and his wife dress their sixteen-year-old daughter Athénaïs like a lady. Her cousin Bénédict, a young man in black, watches with irony. The Lhérys took him in as an orphan, and now they plan to give him Athénaïs as his wife.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
You looked at
Which edition is right for me
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet or computer. Your place follows you, and you can make the type as big as you like.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1832
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 7 h 15 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Sand, George. Valentine. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/valentine.
Sand, G. (2026). Valentine. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/valentine (Original work published 1832)
Sand, George. Valentine. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/valentine.
@book{sand2026valentine,
author = {Sand, George},
title = {Valentine},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/valentine},
note = {First published 1832}
}
Free gifts
USD 580 in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
USD 170FREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
USD 120FREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
USD 60FREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
USD 60FREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
USD 170FREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Valentine
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Valentine by George Sand about?
It tells of Valentine de Raimbault, a countess's daughter engaged to a count, and Bénédict, a farmer's nephew with a city education. Their love grows in the countryside of Berry and clashes with rank, marriage, money and conscience.
Who is Louise in Valentine?
Louise is Valentine's older half-sister, the daughter of the late Count de Raimbault. She was banished fifteen years earlier and now hides at a farm with the family that once nursed her, hoping to see Valentine again.
When was Valentine written and where is it set?
Sand published it in 1832, soon after Indiana. It is set in the Black Valley in Berry, central France, a region she knew from childhood, in the years after Napoleon when old nobles and new rich families competed for status.
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).
“Valentine, it is still not too late to say no.”
More by George Sand
See all their booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
