The narrative is set between 1843 and 1848 in the French Prealps and follows a police officer who discovers unpleasant truths about himself during a murder investigation.

It was the first book by Giono to be published after World War II and marks the beginning of a new phase in the author's oeuvre.

[2] Jean Giono was a pacifist and had participated in the journal La Gerbe which was seen with suspicion after World War II.

[4] The lyrical prose and humanism of Giono's works from the interwar period were replaced by pessimism and sarcastic humor, which came to characterize many of the author's post-war novels.

[3] Published by Éditions de la Table ronde in June 1947, Un roi sans divertissement broke the embargo imposed by the Conseil national des écrivains, becoming Giono's first post-war work.