The Devil's Pool

By: George Sand

Narrated by: Victoria Bradley

Length: 3 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

"The Devil's Pool" (1846) is a novel about the life of the French peasants by George Sand.

Excerpt: "I knew the young man and the beautiful child; I knew their history, for they had a history. Although but a peasant and a laborer, Germain had always been aware of his duties and affections. He had related them to me clearly and ingenuously, and I had listened with interest. After some time spent in watching him plow, it occurred to me that I might write his story, though that story were as simple, as straightforward, and unadorned as the furrow he was tracing.

Next year that furrow will be filled and covered by a fresh one. Thus disappear most of the footprints made by man in the field of human life. A little earth obliterates them, and the furrows we have dug succeed one another like graves in a cemetery. I mean, if possible, to save from oblivion the furrow of Germain, the skilled husbandman. He will never know nor care, but I shall take pleasure in my talk."

©2017 Audioliterature (P)2017 Audioliterature

the book is lovely, the performance is a bit flat

When I read that Poet Charles Baudelaire had this to say about George Sand, I knew I would in all likelihood enjoy her book.

"She is stupid, heavy and garrulous. Her ideas on morals have the same depth of judgment and delicacy of feeling as those of janitresses and kept women.... The fact that there are men who could become enamoured of this slut is indeed a proof of the abasement of the men of this generation."

I can't say that I knew the word "slut" was used in the 19th Century. But the quote proved to me that Baudelaire is not a man I would have liked, and that Sand was a woman I could admire.

Thanks to my Goodreads friend, Celia, for bringing this one into my vision. I enjoyed it very much. It was sweet and quiet and beautifully written.