The novel received the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française.

[1] In 1950 it was named one of the twelve best novels in the French language published between 1900 and 1950.

[2] It was the basis for the 1951 film Diary of a Country Priest, directed by Robert Bresson.

[3] The book was first published in English in 1937 in a translation by Pamela Morris.

[4] The story is set in Ambricourt in northern France, where a young, newly appointed Catholic priest struggles with stomach pains and the lack of faith within his parish.