"Definitely a nice, well told story, a classic by the French author Marcel Pagnol, first published in 1962. Two main characters: the impressive and tragic figure of Jean, a citydweller who thinks he can create paradise on earth out of books, and he almost seems to succeed in this; and the hesitant Ugolin who, driven by greed, drives Jean to his misfortune, but at the same time suffers for what he's doing. In other words: Pagnol offers us the themes of the impotence of modernism, and the battle between greed and conscience. Beautifully told, with an eye for the idyllic-looking but actually inexorable nature of the French Provence. There's a sequel, Manon des sources that is a bit less appealing. "