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Les Gardiennes
Les Gardiennes nous dépeint la vie dans les campagnes durant la première guerre mondiale.
Pendant que les hommes sont au front, la France essentiellement rurale doit s’organiser. Ce sont les femmes, les enfants et les vieillards qui se mobilisent donc en attendant le retour des hommes décimés par les combats. Les Gardiennes sont à la tâche : la grande Hortense, Solange, Francine, Léa... doivent administrer leurs domaines en attendant le retour de la paix.
275 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1924
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About the author
Ernest Pérochon
50 books5 followersErnest Pérochon (1885, Courlay, Deux-Sèvres - 1942) was a French writer who received the Prix Goncourt in 1920 for his book Nêne. He taught elementary school before giving it up to write full time in 1921. His works include poetry, novels (in genres ranging from realism to science fiction) and children's literature.
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March 11, 2018Ernest Pérochon, 'Les Guardiennes', Métive, La Crèche, France, 2017.
In the Morzine Library, the table of recent releases is always my first destination. Fascinated by the idea that the women whom the men left behind when they went to fight in the Great War, became the 'gardiennes' of their rural way of life, I picked up Pérochon's book. It was a surprise to find it was originally published in 1920, now reprinted to accompany a film starring Nathalie Baye as the doyenne of a family that threatens to break apart. With few able-bodied men to help them the women struggled - some efficiently and willingly, some reluctantly and lazily - not only to keep their heritage but also to produce foodstuffs for the army at the Front.
Written so soon after the end of World War I, the many story strands have an immediacy and a freshness that has not diminished over the century since. Misunderstandings, petty jealousies, courage and fortitude all work to create a powerful image of women living in a country at war, against a landscape of waterways, canals and marshes.
In the Morzine Library, the table of recent releases is always my first destination. Fascinated by the idea that the women whom the men left behind when they went to fight in the Great War, became the 'gardiennes' of their rural way of life, I picked up Pérochon's book. It was a surprise to find it was originally published in 1920, now reprinted to accompany a film starring Nathalie Baye as the doyenne of a family that threatens to break apart. With few able-bodied men to help them the women struggled - some efficiently and willingly, some reluctantly and lazily - not only to keep their heritage but also to produce foodstuffs for the army at the Front.
Written so soon after the end of World War I, the many story strands have an immediacy and a freshness that has not diminished over the century since. Misunderstandings, petty jealousies, courage and fortitude all work to create a powerful image of women living in a country at war, against a landscape of waterways, canals and marshes.
November 12, 2025
Justice pour Francine en fait!!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews