More fantasy linked with reality. The mystery of Saumaie, its forests, its paths isolates Vivaine who heals by her mysterious touch. Scientist Jacques turns to drink but their love shines through in the end. Love among two people attracted to each other is permanent. In more detail: My copy of L’honorable Monsieur Jacques (Gallimard, 1972) by Andre Dhotel was once the property of the London Borough of Sutton Public Libraries, accession number 524486, accession date July 12th 1972. The issue stamps pasted one on top of each other were still inside the book. It had been borrowed at least 29 times between 1978 and 2006 according to the ‘to be returned' dates. How can its popularity be explained over such a long period? How many renewals were included in these date stamps? What did the readers think about the book?
I reread the book over a few days between May 17th and May 22nd 2018. The story concerns the love between Jacques Soudret, a pharmacist’s son who has ambitions for a career in medical research, and Viviane Aumousse who is from the mysterious Saumaie area where nothing is straightforward, where no straight answers are given, where individuals such as Rosalie, Viviane’s sister, have magical powers and where superstitions connected with the natural environment abound.

There are many strands to the story which takes place within a closely knit rural environment where villages are separated from each other but have their own identities and where everyone knows everyone else.
There are many themes:
- class and social standing, illustrated through Jacques, the budding pharmacist, and Viviane, who cannot shake off her origins;
- a mix of magic, primitive religious beliefs and powers of a mysterious natural environment;
- undying love between two people;
- individuals with special powers for evil and good, Rosalie inclined to evil, Viviane to good and endowed with powers of healing;
- conflict between right and wrong:
- a whodunnit theme as mysterious acts of violence are carried out by persons unknown but suspected.
At some times I felt I was reading a fairy story; at others I was eager to find out what was going to happen next, and overall I was aware of bigger themes and meanings emerging from the everyday yet unusual goings on within the confined rural community.
How can love between two people transcend everything? Can you ever fully understand your nearest and dearest - what secrets do they hold? Are there powers beyond us that determine all that we do? Do we have free will or not?
Sometimes I felt I was reading Die Judenbuche by Annette Droste-Hulshoff, especially when it came to a community such as Saumaie with its own rules, laws and ways of doing things. Or was it Thomas Hardy and his Wessex intervening: the mysterious pathways, forests and clearings of The Return of the Native, the strange figure of the reddleman, and Viviane’s special powers, through her hands, symbols of true love, just holding hands? ( )