The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard

Anatole France’s first celebrated novel takes the form of the diary of Sylvestre Bonnard, an aging scholar who cares more for old books and his cat than for the world outside his study. His pursuit of a coveted medieval manuscript is only the prelude. The real story begins when he meets Jeanne, the orphaned granddaughter of a woman he once loved, and finds her neglected and unhappy under a grasping guardian. The gentle old man’s decision to rescue her becomes the crime of the title, a kindly breach of the law he cannot bring himself to regret. Warm, witty, and touched with melancholy, it made France’s name. Free to read here as a PDF and EPUB download.