The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard

Sylvestre Bonnard, an esteemed ageing scholar of history and philology, finds himself on a trans-European adventure to track down an important manuscript. Whilst on his travels he meets the granddaughter of his lost love, a young woman named Jeanne. Impassioned to rescue her from the abusive life she is stuck in, Bonnard is forced to commit a crime of love to protect Jeanne.

France’s tender exploration of the relationship between male rescuers and damsels-in-distress is interesting, and acts as a precursor to some of the more explosive films to explore this theme such as Martin Scorcese’s ‘Taxi Driver’ and Lynne Ramsay’s ‘You Were Never Really Here’.

A profound, moving, and award-winning tale, ‘The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard’ is a must-read for fans of France who wish to connect with the author’s origins or anyone who wishes to take their first foray into his compelling body of work.

François-Anatole Thibault (1844 – 1924), better known as Anatole France, was a French journalist, poet, novelist, and Nobel laureate for literature. Spending much of his early life in his father’s bookshop, France quickly rose to prominence as a respected author of over 25 works. A French Classicist writer with a style reminiscent of Voltaire and Fénélon, France’s work has a strong preoccupation with scepticism and hedonism. He is best remembered for his classic French novels ‘La Rôtisserie de la Reine Pédauque’ (1893) and ‘Le Crime de Sylvestre Bonnard’ (1881). France’s works have had a historic legacy, and he is recognised today as one of France’s most prominent authors.