Burnt Offering (novel)

Burnt Offering (French: L'initiatrice aux mains vides) is a French novel by Jeanne Galzy. Published in French in 1929, it won the 1930 Prix Brentano and was subsequently published in English, as the only one of the author's many novels.

While the novel (and the translation) received some praise in 1930 and 1931, it was never a great success, though it is now appreciated by critics for its study of the main character, Marie, a school teacher struggling with her (lesbian) desire for one of her students. Autobiographical elements permeating the novel have also been studied; these include the novel's perspective on the school where Marie and her author both worked, the Lycée Lamartine in Paris; and the college where they both received their education, the École normale supérieure de jeunes filles in Sèvres.