George Sand(ISBN=9780679779186)

　　Focused and engaging.??The New York Times Book Review
　　An eloquent and straightforward life story?. Lucid and sympathetic.??Elle
　　"An illuminating and entertaining book?. Emotionally engaging."?The Sunday Times (London) -- Review

　　The author of classic novels including Indiana and Lélia, George Sand is perhaps better known for her unconventional life. Belinda Jack unravels the many facets of this writer who counted among her friends and lovers everyone from Chopin and Liszt to Dostoyevsky and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Sand defied convention by writing novels; but the fact that she was a cigar-smoking cross-dresser who took male and female lovers, declared marriage “barbarous,” and championed socialism made her a legend. Allowing Sand’s voice to be heard, but wise enough to question it, Jack presents a riveting study of a woman raised by her aristocratic grandmother and her prostitute mother, and whose life and work were forever fueled by rival worlds.

　　Belinda Jack is fellow and Lecturer in French at Christ Church, Oxford.