The Sexton of the Republic, Robert Griffon

Upon his return from captivity in Germany, Léon becomes a rural policeman in a village near Sancerre. A job that frees him from an authoritarian father and satisfies his love of nature. Among the winegrowers, Léon "the rural policeman" protects communal and private property, enforces public order, monitors the countryside, manages burials, chases poachers and drunks, announces public notices with his drum, and defuses village festivities. Despite a mutual love at first sight, he will experience an impossible love with Solange, who irresistibly attracts him: morality and life forbid them to love each other. Through one of the most mythical and endearing characters of village society, Robert Griffon has written a fascinating regional novel about the daily life of winegrowers in the mid-twentieth century.