First published in 2008. In this fascinating book, the writer George Sand recounts the story of her 1838 winter in Majorca, a winter she passed in the company of Frederick Chopin. In it she describes the natural beauties of Majorca as well as the rumblings of approaching war. A preface by Luis Ripoll, an expert on the loves of Chopin and Sand, helps the reader to appreciate the significance of this unique work.
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil, best known by her pen name George Sand, was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, being more renowned than either Victor Hugo or Honoré de Balzac in England in the 1830s and 1840s, Sand is recognised as one of the most notable writers of the European Romantic era. She wrote more than 50 volumes of various works to her credit, including tales, plays and political texts, alongside her 70 novels. Like her great-grandmother, Louise Dupin, whom she admired, George Sand advocated for women's rights and passion, criticized the institution of marriage, and fought against the prejudices of a conservative society. She was considered scandalous because of her turbulent love life, her adoption of masculine clothing, and her masculine pseudonym.