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Suite romanesque: Les Semailles et les Moissons #1
Les semailles et les moissons
" Ce n'est pas le portrait d'une femme que j'ai voulu tracer dans Les Semailles et les Moissons, mais celui de trois femmes différentes et pourtant mystérieusement apparentées. Certains traits de caractère se retrouvent chez elles, de mère en fille. Chacune à sa façon illustre l'ascension d'une famille partie de rien et qui, à force de travail, de renoncement, de courage, se taille une place au soleil. Qu'il s'agisse de Maria, d'Amélie, d'Elisabeth, je leur voue la même tendresse et le même respect. Elles incarnent pour moi l'admirable opiniâtreté féminine dans la construction du bonheur. "
576 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1953
2 people are currently reading
173 people want to read
About the author
Henri Troyat
508 books271 followersTroyat was a French author, biographer, historian and novelist.
Troyat was born Levon Aslan Torossian in Moscow to parents of Armenian descent. His family fled Russia in anticipation of the revolution. After a long exodus taking them to the Caucasus on to Crimea and later by sea to Constantinople and then Venice, the family finally settled in Paris in 1920, where young Troyat was schooled and later earned a law degree. The stirring and tragic events of this flight across half of Europe are vividly recounted by Troyat in 'Tant que la terre durera'.
Troyat received his first literary award, Le prix du roman populaire, at the age of twenty-four, and by twenty-seven, he was awarded the Prix Goncourt.
Troyat published more than 100 books, novels and biographies, among them those of Anton Chekhov, Catherine the Great, Rasputin, Ivan the Terrible and Leo Tolstoy.
Troyat's best-known work is La neige en deuil, which was adapted as an English-language film in 1956 under the title The Mountain.
He was elected as a member of the Académie française in 1959. At the time of his death, Troyat was the longest serving member of the Academy.
From Wikipedia
Troyat was born Levon Aslan Torossian in Moscow to parents of Armenian descent. His family fled Russia in anticipation of the revolution. After a long exodus taking them to the Caucasus on to Crimea and later by sea to Constantinople and then Venice, the family finally settled in Paris in 1920, where young Troyat was schooled and later earned a law degree. The stirring and tragic events of this flight across half of Europe are vividly recounted by Troyat in 'Tant que la terre durera'.
Troyat received his first literary award, Le prix du roman populaire, at the age of twenty-four, and by twenty-seven, he was awarded the Prix Goncourt.
Troyat published more than 100 books, novels and biographies, among them those of Anton Chekhov, Catherine the Great, Rasputin, Ivan the Terrible and Leo Tolstoy.
Troyat's best-known work is La neige en deuil, which was adapted as an English-language film in 1956 under the title The Mountain.
He was elected as a member of the Académie française in 1959. At the time of his death, Troyat was the longest serving member of the Academy.
From Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 8, 2009
Les jours heureux et les travaux paisibles se succèdent à la Chapelle-au-Bois, une bourgade corrézienne plutôt déshéritée, à la veille de la Grande Guerre.
C'est là qu'a grandi Amélie Aubernat, entre un père maréchal-ferrant qu'elle adore, et une mère un peu fantasque qui tient la petite épicerie du village.
À dix-huit ans, la jolie et farouche Amélie sait d'instinct qu'elle n'aime pas Jean Eyrolles, le fiancé qu'on lui destine et qui doit hériter de la scierie paternelle.
En revanche, toutes ses pensées et tous ses sentiments vont vers Pierre Mazalaigue qui rêve, lui aussi, de l'épouser.
Ainsi débute cette chronique familiale exemplaire, cette fresque vivante et colorée, ce roman d'amour raisonnable et passionné, geste intimiste que le succès public a transformée en véritable légende.
*
les autres tomes du cycle : 2. Amélie ; 3. La grive ; 4. Tendre et violente Elisabeth ; 5. La rencontre ; ainsi que La ballerine de Saint-Pétersbourg et Nicolas 1er.
C'est là qu'a grandi Amélie Aubernat, entre un père maréchal-ferrant qu'elle adore, et une mère un peu fantasque qui tient la petite épicerie du village.
À dix-huit ans, la jolie et farouche Amélie sait d'instinct qu'elle n'aime pas Jean Eyrolles, le fiancé qu'on lui destine et qui doit hériter de la scierie paternelle.
En revanche, toutes ses pensées et tous ses sentiments vont vers Pierre Mazalaigue qui rêve, lui aussi, de l'épouser.
Ainsi débute cette chronique familiale exemplaire, cette fresque vivante et colorée, ce roman d'amour raisonnable et passionné, geste intimiste que le succès public a transformée en véritable légende.
*
les autres tomes du cycle : 2. Amélie ; 3. La grive ; 4. Tendre et violente Elisabeth ; 5. La rencontre ; ainsi que La ballerine de Saint-Pétersbourg et Nicolas 1er.
October 23, 2021
3.5 star rating bc I remained curious and piqued to the end but felt simultaneously exasperated in the reading...
This book leaves me feeling torn. I was unsure if I’d continue until I got past about 200 pages but now I feel like I’ve got to see it through. I find this book to be both charming and obnoxious, quaint and exhausting, intriguing and maddening, beautiful and depressing. I cannot stand the character Maria, who seems to me to have mental health issues or just a very toxic personality, which makes a major imprint on that of her own family’s dysfunction. There is so much codependency and women are so devoted and obsessed with the men... I am all for women who love their husbands and serving them, but literally having nothing else to them? It is vacuous and depressing. I struggle with the hysteria of the protagonist, the intensity and suddenness of her passions. It seems like mental health issues I don’t feel I could diagnose or claim to know from just one book - but like it is showing clearly, even so.
I find it particularly fascinating to read a book published in the 1940s but set in 1912 and which refers back to things happening and changing as early as the last 1800s. The small town setting of Chapelle-au-Bois evokes a deep appreciation for the intimacy and uniqueness of small town life before computers and the internet. The glimpse into the mindset behind those who were leaving a Christian faith and seeing Christianity as merely a practice of religion and a sort of social expectation nearly a hundred years ago in France, as compared with American Christianity today, also felt insightful to me.
I am nearly done and will see what I think with how it concludes but I suppose I should’ve guessed with a FRENCH novel that the love story ought to be fairly frustrating? 😂🤷🏻♀️ It seems the predominant attitude towards love culturally there is that marriage isn’t necessary and love can be fickle or shortlived, or need the boost of infidelity on the side... so perhaps having begun reading with the impression that the title was “Amelie in Love” misled me as to the nature the tale would reflect. Inside of the book itself, it only says “The Seed and Its Fruit” on the top of the pages where the title ought to be - which seems more apropos in that the mother seems to be reflected in the daughter. There remains no mention of seed or fruit in the actual writing of the novel, however, so that title too feels a bit odd.
Amelie is both admirably competent and daring, while simultaneously impulsive and dramatic. I don’t know if I like her and care for her or if she just feels excessively emotive and volatile. I enjoy the man she marries and his character. He seems the most redeeming, along with her father.
Having read all 370 pages, I’m relieved that the protagonists codependency seems a bit less intense by the end and I did find the read relatively enjoyable - but it definitely continued throughout, in its entirety, to leave me with mixed feelings. My favorite characters were Denis, Jerome, Pierre and perhaps Mme Croux. Amelie I had mixed feelings over, which may be significant in my overall estimation of the book.
This book leaves me feeling torn. I was unsure if I’d continue until I got past about 200 pages but now I feel like I’ve got to see it through. I find this book to be both charming and obnoxious, quaint and exhausting, intriguing and maddening, beautiful and depressing. I cannot stand the character Maria, who seems to me to have mental health issues or just a very toxic personality, which makes a major imprint on that of her own family’s dysfunction. There is so much codependency and women are so devoted and obsessed with the men... I am all for women who love their husbands and serving them, but literally having nothing else to them? It is vacuous and depressing. I struggle with the hysteria of the protagonist, the intensity and suddenness of her passions. It seems like mental health issues I don’t feel I could diagnose or claim to know from just one book - but like it is showing clearly, even so.
I find it particularly fascinating to read a book published in the 1940s but set in 1912 and which refers back to things happening and changing as early as the last 1800s. The small town setting of Chapelle-au-Bois evokes a deep appreciation for the intimacy and uniqueness of small town life before computers and the internet. The glimpse into the mindset behind those who were leaving a Christian faith and seeing Christianity as merely a practice of religion and a sort of social expectation nearly a hundred years ago in France, as compared with American Christianity today, also felt insightful to me.
I am nearly done and will see what I think with how it concludes but I suppose I should’ve guessed with a FRENCH novel that the love story ought to be fairly frustrating? 😂🤷🏻♀️ It seems the predominant attitude towards love culturally there is that marriage isn’t necessary and love can be fickle or shortlived, or need the boost of infidelity on the side... so perhaps having begun reading with the impression that the title was “Amelie in Love” misled me as to the nature the tale would reflect. Inside of the book itself, it only says “The Seed and Its Fruit” on the top of the pages where the title ought to be - which seems more apropos in that the mother seems to be reflected in the daughter. There remains no mention of seed or fruit in the actual writing of the novel, however, so that title too feels a bit odd.
Amelie is both admirably competent and daring, while simultaneously impulsive and dramatic. I don’t know if I like her and care for her or if she just feels excessively emotive and volatile. I enjoy the man she marries and his character. He seems the most redeeming, along with her father.
Having read all 370 pages, I’m relieved that the protagonists codependency seems a bit less intense by the end and I did find the read relatively enjoyable - but it definitely continued throughout, in its entirety, to leave me with mixed feelings. My favorite characters were Denis, Jerome, Pierre and perhaps Mme Croux. Amelie I had mixed feelings over, which may be significant in my overall estimation of the book.
December 5, 2025
Reading Troyat feels like diving into rural France in the early twentieth century. There’s a gentle naivety to the world he describes, a simplicity of life shaped by modest expectations. It’s quietly enlightening.
The manuscript also sheds light on the realities faced by women of the era and the ways in which they were routinely belittled.
The manuscript also sheds light on the realities faced by women of the era and the ways in which they were routinely belittled.
June 9, 2023
This is Volume 1 of a five part popular historical novel series. The first volume chronicles the family of a metalsmith in rural France in the pre WW1 years. It's a beautiful evocation of country and family life. The story centers around the daughter Amelie, who is sort of a more passionate, French Elizabeth Bennet. The other similarity to Pride and Prejudice is the way the story focuses on everyday happenings which are of monumental importance to Amelie and her family. The volume ends with the outbreak of WW1 as Amelie has married and gives birth to her first child. Very well written, the reader comes to care deeply about the characters. Bring on Volume 2!
October 18, 2013
La série entière est un régal.
August 30, 2010
les premiers livres que j'ai lu en français
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews