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What does freedom mean inside a marriage when the law gives one partner power over the other?
In Adam, Eve and Brid'oison, Paul Margueritte explores the bond between men and women in a France divided over marriage. Husbands hold wide legal power over wives. Divorce is possible again, but its terms remain contested. Against this background, the novel asks what fairness can mean when the rules favour one side.
The title brings Adam and Eve together with Brid'oison, Beaumarchais's slow-witted judge. The first couple suggests an old question: what do men and women owe each other? The judge brings stiff, foolish authority into view. Margueritte places private life within the reach of courts, families and churches, where personal freedom meets the weight of social rules.
What you’ll discover
- Marriage under unequal laws Consider what fairness demands when husbands and wives do not hold equal legal power.
- Freedom within a bond Explore the tension between life together and the right to shape your own life.
- Three names with meaning Discover how the title joins the first couple with a figure of foolish authority.
- Institutions close to home See how courts, families and churches press upon the lives of individuals.
- Rights beyond private life Ask whether social freedom can take root without changes to the law.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who enjoy a spirited argument about love, marriage, motherhood and the law, and who like to see how reformers a century ago pressed their case.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- War makes women's independence undeniable
- Honest teaching protects the young
- Every child deserves equal standing
- Love and merit should guide marriage
- Marriage law gives husbands unequal power
- Shared work deserves a shared vote
- Divorce should offer a dignified exit
- Families need freedom and practical support
- Living needs should reshape inherited law
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Adam, Eve and Brid'oison
In 1918, Paul Margueritte asks France to write women into its laws, from the ballot to the marriage contract.
Challenging2–5 hours to read20 languages
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“There must no longer be unmarried mothers, only mothers.”
In short
Can a country fight a great war and keep the same laws for its wives and daughters? In the summer of 1918, with the guns still sounding, Paul Margueritte sits down at Hossegor and answers no. He has watched women run farms, factories, hospitals and offices while the men were at the front.
Adam, Eve and Brid'oison at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 10 min1 h 40 min fast, 2 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 30,600 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
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
The war has freed women for good
Margueritte opens with a bold claim. The war, he says, has achieved in a few years what feminist congresses could not win in decades. With men at the front, women ran the fields, factories, hospitals, shops and government offices. They proved that they could take charge and overcome difficulties.
From this he draws a plain conclusion. If women worked as hard as men to save the city, how can they be refused a voice in its affairs? Tomorrow they will vote, he says, and they will bring a law more far-sighted and more generous to the weak.
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Details
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 2 h 30 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Margueritte, Paul. Adam, Eve and Brid'oison. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/adam-eve-and-bridoison.
Margueritte, P. (2026). Adam, Eve and Brid'oison. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/adam-eve-and-bridoison
Margueritte, Paul. Adam, Eve and Brid'oison. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/adam-eve-and-bridoison.
@book{margueritte2026adam,
author = {Margueritte, Paul},
title = {Adam, Eve and Brid'oison},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/adam-eve-and-bridoison}
}
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What is Adam, Eve and Brid'oison about?
It is a collection of essays from 1918 arguing for women's rights in France. It covers the vote, marriage law, divorce, unmarried mothers, the dowry, sex education and motherhood, and links each reform to the changes brought by the First World War.
Who are Adam, Eve and Brid'oison?
Adam and Eve stand for human instinct and feeling, everything in us that grows freely and naturally. Brid'oison stands for the social form, meaning the dogma of custom, opinion and law that Margueritte finds full of error and injustice.
When was Adam, Eve and Brid'oison written?
Paul Margueritte signed the preface in summer 1918, at Hossegor. He says he returns to ideas he pressed from 1899 to 1909, and the book speaks throughout to the changes the war was bringing to French society.
The author
Paul Margueritte
1860–1918 · French novelist
Paul Margueritte was a French writer who lived from 1860 to 1918. He was born in Laghouat, Algeria, and died in Hossegor, France. He wrote novels and short stories in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He also wrote books with his younger brother, Victor Margueritte.
“There must no longer be unmarried mothers, only mothers.”
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