George Sand: True Genius, True Woman is a scrupulously researched and tenderly revealing biography of one of the great pioneering figures of 19th-century French literature. Born in 1804-at a time when women were deprived of their civil rights (along with minors, criminals, and the insane)-Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin grew up to defy those norms, both in her life and her writing. Adopting the gender-neutral pen name George Sand, and in a career lasting over forty years as a novelist and playwright, she is best remembered today for the affairs and friendships she enjoyed with men: the composer Chopin; the painter Delacroix; the novelist Balzac. (W) Severine Vidal (A) Kim Consigny