Briefly, a Delicious Life

Debut Award-winning memoirist and short story author Stevens (Bleaker House) examines the nature of desire and women’s fate throughout history with an intriguing, mostly successful reimagining of George Sand’s 1838–39 stay in Mallorca with her children and much-loved Frédéric Chopin, told from the perspective of a lusty, impetuous ghost. In 1473, 14-year-old Blanca dies giving birth at the monastery where her baby’s thoughtless young father is a novice. She remains there for centuries, learning how to assert herself in the world and prank the licentious monks until the monastery’s abandonment. Then Sand arrives with her entourage, and Blanca falls in love, having come to value women after her death; once they represented to her only “comforting boredom.” Because she’s mastered the art of reading memories, Blanca can narrate not only her life but Sand’s; when she senses crisis coming, she resorts to a little-used ability to see the future and diverts Sand and her little family from disaster.