George Sand

George Sand (1804–1876) was born Amandine Dupin and adopted her pen name upon publication of her first novel, Indiana (1832). She was prolific, the author of nearly four dozen novels, as well as eleven plays. Known as much for romantic affairs with the likes of Chopin and Musset (about whom she authored Elle et lui) as for her writing, Sand scandalized society, wearing men’s clothing and smoking cigars, and relinquished the privileges of a baroness in consequence. “There is only one happiness in life,” she wrote, “to love and be loved.”