The principle of the “Vintage novel” collection from Belfond is simple, to honor sublime but sometimes somewhat forgotten literary works. This is the case of the one they chose to bring out a few days ago: “The Seasons and the Days” by Caroline Miller, which had a huge success when it was released in the United States even winning the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in 1934.
The story takes place in Georgia in the southern United States between 1820 and 1850 and tells us the daily life of the peasants of those who worked the land. Margaret Mitchell, the author of “Gone with the Wind” called this novel “the greatest book about the south and its people”. It is a simple story and yet of great beauty, a hymn to pastoral life, to the courage of these families who toil for a land that does not even belong to them and the whole thing is punctuated by the seasons, the dramas, the joys, births, deaths in short by the course of life by the time of the seasons.
And so it hasn’t aged. Even if I grant you, at the start the story is a little slow and it takes a few chapters to get into the mood but once conquered we have no longer want to stop. It is truly a cult book to discover or rediscover.
And if despite everything I’ve told you, you’re not tempted, know that the collection is full of nuggets. There is something for every taste. And publications by authors from all over the world. And last but not least, the books are so pretty that you want to have the whole collection in your library. Special mention from my side for “Au bord de la nuit” by Friedo Lampe a German author, book banned at the time by the Nazi regime. A story in which we observe the whole life of a neighborhood at night as dusk falls. Simply superb, it is a jewel waiting for you somewhere in the Belfond Vintage collection.