The Song of the World

Sailor, a woodsman, has twin sons, one of whom is dead. The other has gone missing upcountry where a powerful landowner, Maudru, holds sway. With his friend the riverman, Sailor goes in search of the boy, fearing that he, too, has been killed. On the way they come upon a lone girl giving birth in the woods, and they bring her to a place of safety. Once among Maudru's drovers, who effectively serve him as a private army, they have to watch their step, even more so when they learn that the lost twin is alive but the object of a ruthless manhunt, for he has married Maudru's daughter against her father's wishes. With its taut yet elegiac atmosphere, Song of the World is unmistakably the work of a master storyteller.

Jean Giono (1895-1970) was born in Manosque, a small Provençal town in southeastern France. He wrote over fifty books, including The Man Who Planted Trees, Second Harvest, and The Horseman on the Roof.