"This novel -- called "splendid" by Henry James -- first appeared in 1847. Lucrezia Floriani, a worldly 30-year-old actress and the mother of 4 children with 3 different fathers, meets and falls in love with Prince Karol, a moody, introspective aristocrat. Lucrezia is a thinly disguised George Sand, and Prince Karol is Chopin. Because the novel was considered scandalous, this is the first English translation.