Fadette, by George Sand

Fadette, by George Sand

The novel takes place in the French 19th century countryside. The parents of Landry and Sylvinet, identical twins, who are respectable and relatively rich farmers, do not follow the advice that is given at the twins' birth to keep separating and distinguishing them from each other while they are still young. Consequently, the twins grow up together with disastrous emotional consequences.<br />Fadette lives with her younger brother and a grandmother —suspected of being a witch— who makes the two children work constantly. The children are despised and looked down upon by the other villagers for being different: unkempt, covered in dirt, and always wild. <br />In an idyllic and pastoral French setting, romance flourishes between one of the twins (Landry), and the urchin Fadette, a romance that defies credulity given the insurmountable gulf that the author created between the protagonists. Yet Fadette “steals the show” when the plot and the action turn to her, revealing her as heroine of unimpeachable worth. <br />In the end not only does she win the best and most eligible boy in the village, but she also enjoys a complete vindication of all suspicions and vilifications she had suffered for most of her life. This is a fast-moving veritable bildungsroman fit not only for young adults for all adult readers who may well learn from the virtues of youngsters.