“Giono’s prose is a singularly fine blend of realism and poetic sensibility.” — The Washington Post
Giono’s very own Moby-Dick, a sensational maritime journey that follows a crew inwards on a spiritual tale of evocative sea-glimpses

An allegorical critique of modern civilization and the damages of war, Giono’s oft-overlooked seafaring tale sweeps the reader along a narrative as poetic and undulating as the wind, tacking between the sea’s mysteries and the intricacies of the men’s conversations and inner thoughts as they attempt to grasp the sensory reality around them.

“I no longer have any interest in living under the conditions that this era allows,” writes the Captain of L’Indien, a ship whose radio remains packed in a crate in the hold. The men aboard won’t be needing it; they have no interest in connecting with the world of ordinary men. With enough provisions to last them five years, they set sail in July of 1940 for the South Seas, leaving civilization behind in search of the unknown.

Hastening onwards, Giono’s men steer deeper into themselves, seeking a purpose beyond the “world in upheaval” they left behind—a moving and spiritual work written by one of Europe’s most ardent 20th-century pacifists.

A sensational novel that delves into the unknown reaches of the sea and soul, perfect for readers seeking a poetic escape that challenges the political and social status-quo.

Jean Giono's profile page

Paul Eprile's profile page

Michael Wood's profile page

Jean Giono was born in Manosque in 1895 and spent most of his life in that part of Provence, which is also the main setting for his immense body of work—over fifty novels—as well as poems, essays and plays. During World War II, he turned to political writing and was jailed for pacifist activities.

Paul Eprile is a publisher, poet, and translator. He lives on the Niagara Escarpment in Ontario, Canada.

"It’s amazing what Giono has done with Renaissance tales of voyages and monsters, turning them into a paean of the imagination, an invitation to a spiritual voyage. The giant squid! The island! The cook’s face! Bravo. Paul Eprile has done a masterpiece proud."
—Edmund White, author of A Boy's Own Story and The Humble Lover
"Giono calls on every sense as he asks us to imagine the most fabulous of encounters—a world where sea and sky, angels and monsters, the mundane and the miraculous are one . . . Fragments of a Paradise is surely one of the most strangely beautiful and original works of the post-war era."
—Susan Stewart

"Out at sea near the beginning of this beautifully strange, beautifully translated novel, 'when the sun went down, a broad expanse of sky lit up by increments, as if a wing of fire had slowly spread its feathers apart.' The whole book is like that. Moment after moment, Giono does for our life on earth what the sunset does for the sky: makes it magical, radiant, spectacular." — Damion Searls

"In Paul Eprile’s vital and propulsive translation, Jean Giono’s Fragments of a Paradise becomes a slimmed-down, mid-20th-century Moby Dick. In this existential sea journey, helmed by a captain fueled by curiosity rather than revenge, encounters with monsters lead to an intensification of reality rather than retreats into phantasmagoria. Along with the crew of L’Indien, we must ponder how best to be alive on a wild, watery planet."
— Catherine Bush

"Archipelago Books takes great care in translating and publishing outstanding non-English literature for American audiences. This 20th century French seafaring novel follows the crew of a ship as they encounter mythical beasts and explore the limits of human experience."
—Paul Constant, The Seattle Times

"Fragments of a Paradise is stunning and carefully wrought, and the translation by Paul Eprile is superb. Giono was a longtime pacifist, a stance he took after serving in the First World War. Perhaps he meant Fragments of a Paradise to be his paean to peace, one in which the world survives even if the humans wreaking havoc on it do not."
—Mike Maggio, Washington Independent Review of Books

"Is this book in fragments or is the world in fragments? . . . Giono undermines the idea of the quest, it becomes all movement, no goal . . . Suspenseful, riveting, joyful, unbelievable, [Fragments of a Paradise] makes adventure of everything."
— The One Bright Book podcast