“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.

"The writing, even in the midst of carnage, is tenderly poetic, given a fine sheen of beauty by the translator Paul Eprile. This novel calls back not only to an ancient era when miracles were still routine but to classics of literary invention by, Jules Verne, Herman Melville and others. If we can’t sail into the unknown, we can at least turn to these works of evergreen imagination to help us."
—The Wall Street Journal

"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
"Fragments of a Paradise is my new favorite adventure book. It’s an adventure to the Antarctic, and, in another sense, to nowhere in particular. It’s full of surprising twists—I gasped aloud once—as waves become giant rays and angels, reefs transform into whales, and storm clouds are revealed to be clouds of birds. These twists rely as much on authorial ingenuity as linguistic prowess—Paradise is excellent in its phenomenological chronicling of our world’s otherworldliness." —Theodore Anderson, Newcity
"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

"Throughout this unusually crafted, captivating novel there is a subtle sense of imminent menace that transmutes into near-mystical encounters with animals—inevitably bringing the greatest whale novel to mind—and the conclusion that true intention keeps us alive."
—Declan O'Driscoll, The Irish Times
"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

"Perhaps the best novel by Jean Giono I’ve read to date, different in subject from his other works . . . Strongly attentive to the senses, tactile and aural—the wooden creaking of the ship, the flap of canvas sails giving voice to the wind, and human voices that carry miles from land to sea—sensations catalogued with intelligence . . . The stunning, rapturous beauty of this novel is conveyed in all its lambent grace and ambiguity by Paul Eprile." —Tom Bowden, Book Beat blog

"Fragments of a Paradise is a tale of longing and human powerlessness. The crew leave behind "civilized countries," experiencing the wonder, fear and disgust that untouched nature arouses throughout their voyage. It is a great treat that audiences can enjoy Giono's enchanting, haunting and chimeric narrative in English, eighty years after it was first written in French."
—Dylan Kaposi, Literary Review

"The voyage in Fragments of a Paradise . . . becomes a voyage of hope, one that attempts, through exposure to the unknown, to reinvigorate the crew and provide an alternative to that offered by the 'civilized world.' In the words of the captain, it 'isn’t so much a voyage of exploration as it is a new way of life.' . . . It is . . . wonderful to have another novel available in English, demonstrating just how varied and innovative a writer Giono is." — Grant Rintoul, 1st Reading