La Mare Au Diable
1846
George Sand turned her gaze on the French countryside and found something the Romantic era had mostly ignored: the inner lives of ordinary people. La Mare au Diable follows Germain, a plowman still mourning his dead wife, who musters the courage to seek a new match, not for passion, but for the practical needs of his three young children. His father-in-law has arranged a meeting with a wealthy widow, but Germain finds himself drawn instead to Marie, a young shepherdess from his own village, though she insists she'd prefer a younger man. Set in the marshland of Berry, the novel moves with the slow rhythm of agricultural life: dawn in the fields, evenings by the fire, the particular loneliness of a man who has forgotten how to hope. Sand writes with tender precision about the quiet desperation of rural poverty and the unexpected grace of two people learning to trust again. It's a love story without melodrama, where the greatest obstacle isn't scandal or fate, but the simple fear of being unworthy of happiness.
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“The maid told him that a girl and a child had come looking for him, but since she didn't know them, she hadn't cared to ask them in, and had told them to go on to Mers."Why didn't you let them in?" asked Germain angrily. "People must be very suspicious in this part of the world, if they won't open the front door to a neighbor.""Well, naturally!" replied the maid. "In a house as rich as this, you have to keep a close watch on things. While the master's away I'm responsible for everything, and I can't just open the door to anyone at all.""That's a mean way to live," said Germain; "I'd rather be poor than live in fear like that. Good-bye to you, miss, and good-bye to this horrible country of yours!””
— George Sand
“Chacun pourrait s'intéresser au roman de sa propre vie, s'il l'avait compris...””
— George Sand
“L'alouette, qui chantait en montant vers les cieux, lui semblait être la voix de son cur rendant grâce à la Providence.””
— George Sand
“Beau chou, disent-ils, vis et fleuris, afin que notre jeune mariée ait un beau petit enfant avant la fin de l'année; car si tu mourais trop vite ce serait signe de stérilité, et tu serais là-haut sur sa maison comme un mauvais présage.””
— George Sand
“chou est le symbole de la fécondité de””
— George Sand
“Le fossoyeur fit la cuisine et la fit fort bien. Il””
— George Sand
“la cérémonie des livrées.””
— George Sand
“bon Dieu ne fait personne sans lui réserver son bonheur dans une autre personne.””
— George Sand
“On ne le trouve pas quand on le cherche; il vient à nous quand nous ne l'attendons pas.””
— George Sand
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Sand, George. La Mare Au Diable. Lex, lex-books.com/book/la-mare-au-diable-3797109a-18b1-4af1-889b-a586b99e8e15.Sand, G. (1846). La Mare Au Diable. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/la-mare-au-diable-3797109a-18b1-4af1-889b-a586b99e8e15Sand, George. La Mare Au Diable. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/la-mare-au-diable-3797109a-18b1-4af1-889b-a586b99e8e15.
