George Sand

“An admirable ruse, indeed! To inspire in me the horror of females, only to throw it in my face and say: but this is what you are.”The handsome, heroic heir to a vast estate, raised as a man to follow a man’s pursuits and to despise women, is devastated to learn at the age of seventeen that he is in fact a she. Gabriel courageously refuses to give up her male privileges, and her tragic struggle to work and fight and love in all the ways she knows how offers a window into the obstacles faced by George Sand, the prolific intellectual woman whom the popular press portrayed as a promiscuous, cigar-smoking oddity in trousers. “Strange that the most virile talent of our time should be a woman’s!” exclaimed a reviewer in 1838.Kathleen Robin Hart’s introduction contextualizes the drama, discussing its relation to the theater of Sand’s day, the sentimental tradition, the subversive workings of carnival and masquerade, and the vein of literary androgyny in Romantic works.

“An admirable ruse, indeed! To inspire in me the horror of females, only to throw it in my face and say: but this is what you are.”The handsome, heroic heir to a vast estate, raised as a man to follow a man’s pursuits and to despise women, is devastated to learn at the age of seventeen that he is in fact a she. Gabriel courageously refuses to give up her male privileges, and her tragic struggle to work and fight and love in all the ways she knows how offers a window into the obstacles faced by George Sand, the prolific intellectual woman whom the popular press portrayed as a promiscuous, cigar-smoking oddity in trousers. “Strange that the most virile talent of our time should be a woman’s!” exclaimed a reviewer in 1838.Kathleen Robin Hart’s introduction contextualizes the drama, discussing its relation to the theater of Sand’s day, the sentimental tradition, the subversive workings of carnival and masquerade, and the vein of literary androgyny in Romantic works.

Set against the glittering yet perilous world of 15th-century Venice, this early 19th-century historical novel plunges readers into an age of war, piracy, and political intrigue. At its heart is Soranzo, a reckless young nobleman whose impulsive nature has cost him both fortune and favour, and Giovanna, the beautiful and wealthy woman he loves. When Soranzo seeks redemption through daring exploits against the Turks, his quest for honour ignites a chain of events shaped by love, betrayal, and ambition. As personal desires collide with the sweeping forces of history, the destinies of Soranzo, Giovanna, and those around them are irrevocably transformed in a dramatic tale of passion and conflict.