Mauprat

Mauprat by George Sand is a classic of French literature, available here in an authoritative English translation.

The story is directly inspired by several literary genres, among them gothic fiction, the romances of the Middle Ages and the classic fairy tale. This multi-genre adoption was the signature style of the author, appearing in the majority of her longer form fictional works. 

Deferring to the virtues Sand sees in women, we see here the tale of a female protagonist whose job it is to settle a former hero - Bernard Mauprat - into ordinary life and society. In doing so she becomes a heroine herself, bravely confronting the hero's negative qualities with a diligence all her own. 

The tale is narrated by an older Mauprat who reminisces about his younger days prior to the French revolution and subsequent wars - thus the book also carries a notable element of the coming of age story. For her part, George Sand was curious about exploring the ideas of social equality and what that meant for her gender. As such, Mauprat features characters such as the working class Patience who holds her own visionary ideals of society.