Ten Tales

A retired captain settles in a small provincial town where the daily arrival of a coach and the Monday market punctuate a quiet week. This opening scene introduces the close attention to ordinary surroundings in François Coppée's collection of ten prose tales, translated from French by Walter Learned. The stories move among provincial and Parisian lives, giving space to poverty, work, affection and the strain of difficult choices.

In one excerpt, Jean François shares modest lodgings with Savinien and learns from him about country work, plants and village evenings. Their companionship becomes uneasy as Savinien takes up dancing and borrows money, while Jean François worries that his own past will come to light. The collection offers compact stories for readers interested in French social life and relationships tested by changing habits. Its everyday details connect questions of trust with the practical pressures of sharing a home and living on limited means.