User:Mikejohnduffy/Manon des sources (roman)

Manon des Sources is the second volume of L'Eau des collines, a fictional novel in two contrasting parts by Marcel Pagnol published in 1963; it is the follow up to Jean de Florette.

Synopsis
Ugolin thrives on the land of Jean de Florette, the Romarins, acquired by him and his godfather Papet, thanks to some underhand tactics. Manon, the daughter of Jean de Florette, has become a shepherdess and lives in the hills, avoiding contact with the villagers. The ageing Papet urges his nephew to marry and have children. Ugolin, who has seen Manon, falls in love with her. But Manon, aware of the criminal role played by Ugolin in the failure and death of her father, rejects him, even more so as she falls in love with Bernard Olivier, the young schoolteacher in the village. She overhears a conversation between two villagers and understands that they all knew there was a spring in the Romarins.

Eager for revenge, she discovers by accident the small, underground lake from which the spring that supplies the village comes, and she blocks the opening. Panic spreads in the village and during a sermon, the parish priest makes it clear that he knows (probably thanks to a confession) that the villagers have harmed the late Jean de Florette. The teacher, inviting the villagers to a drink for his birthday, also invites Manon. The village speaks of nothing but the priest's sermon and they begin to accuse Ugolin and Papet who defend themselves despite Manon's revelations. An unexpected witness shows up and confirms Manon's statements. Ugolin, in despair, offers to redeem his faults by offering all his assets to Manon if she marries him. She rejects him and he understands that she is in love with the teacher.

Ugolin commits suicide. Manon, helped by the teacher, restores the flow of water, to the great relief of the villagers who believe that it is a miracle. The two young people get married and have a child.

While chatting with an old female friend returned to the village, Papet finds out that Jean was his son, Florette having fallen pregnant just before he left to do his military service in Africa. She had told him everything in a letter which unfortunately got lost. Unable to face the situation alone, she had married the first person to come along. Eaten away by remorse, Papet dies shortly after Christmas evening. The next morning, while she is recuperating from the birth of her first son, Manon receives the final letter from Papet which explains the whole story to her, he bequeaths the Soubeyran fortune to his great-grandson and signs “Your grandfather, César Soubeyran ”.

Cinema

 * Manon des sources by Claude Berri in 1986

Related article

 * Colline by Jean Giono, which also tells the story of the search for the water of the hills and its sudden disappearance.