François the Waif is a short novel by George Sand, first published in 1848. It forms part of her series of pastoral novels which evoke on the peasant world of the author's home region of Berry. The series also includes The Devil's Pool, Little Fadette, and The Bagpipers. François the Waif tells the story of the foundling, François, and his life with his adopted mother Madeleine. (Google)
Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil; (1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand, was a French novelist, memoirist, and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, being more renowned than both Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac in England in the 1830s and 1840s, Sand is recognised as one of the most notable writers of the European Romantic era, with more than 70 novels to her credit and 50 volumes of various works including novels, tales, plays and political texts. Like her great-grandmother, Louise Dupin, whom she admired, George Sand stood up for women, advocated passion, castigated marriage and fought against the prejudices of a conservative society.