It tells the story of a retired teacher who settles in a village in northern France, where he becomes surrounded by mysterious deaths and other unexplained events.

[2] Monsieur Ouine has its origin in a spiritual crisis Bernanos went through in the early 1930s, when he contemplated how nihilism and despair lead to evil.

The plot is purposely ambiguous and in certain parts inconsistent, as Bernanos considered evil to be unstable and wanted the novel to reflect this.

[3] Kirkus Reviews wrote in 2000: "This is a savage morality tale that depicts the dying of the landed aristocracy and a wartorn civilization's larger 'innocence' with sharp imagery, precise characterizations, and commanding intensity.

All of Bernanos's fiction ought to be available in English translation, and William Bush looks like the right man for the job.