Book Review: La Symphonie pastorale

André Gide’s classic novella La symphonie pastorale marked its 100th birthday last year, so what better excuse to revisit this heart-rending tale? Brimming with lyrical beauty and rammed with memorable lines, it tells the tale of a pastor who adopts a young blind girl. His action invokes the fury of his wife, who believes the pastor cares more for his new charge than he does for his family.

Named after Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony (aka the Pastoral Symphony) and dealing with themes of love, moral blindness and our relationships with other humans, it is a little book with a big heart.

From France Today magazine. For more France Today book reviews, click here