A love story of humanization and transformation, "Mauprat" is the tale of Bernard, an orphan raised to violence by the brutish and villainous Mauprat clan, and of his passion for his cousin Edmee. Compelling Edmee to agree to become his wife, Bernard must none the less submit to her guidance and tuition as she endeavours to make of him a worthy husband. Deeply engaged with Rousseau's pedagogical treatise "Emile", and with contemporary debate concerning inherited and acquired traits and tendencies, Mauprat is an expression of Sand's Utopian vision of a relationship governed by free choice and equality. Naomi Schor's introduction explores these and other aspects of the novel.