The Peasants

Reymont’s great novel of Polish village life unfolds across four volumes named for the seasons, and this first part, Autumn, opens the cycle. Life in the village of Lipce turns on land, weather, and the church calendar, and at its center stands old Boryna, a stubborn and wealthy farmer whose household and marriage set much of the drama in motion. Around him Reymont gathers a whole community of neighbors, laborers, and lovers, rendered with the patience and detail of a writer who knew rural poverty from the inside. The work earned him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1924. This free PDF and EPUB edition presents Autumn, the beginning of one of Poland’s finest novels.