Summary

This section begins with a prologue and is followed by three journal entries, all written in first person point of view and in past tense as the narrator reflects on her life. The brief prologue, dated April 1873, shows that the narrator enjoyed being a hostess. Her son and three novelists -- Gustave Flaubert and Alexandre Dumas (French) and Ivan Turgenev (Russian) visited to play charades and have a party. They had a puppet show and read stories as well. The narrator closes the prologue by saying that people need music, literature art and love in their lives every day.

The journal entry dated January 1831 takes place at Nohant, the narrator's family estate.The narrator was sad about leaving her children behind, but happy to leave her loveless marriage to pursue a career as a writer in Paris. With a son, Maurice, aged 7 and...