The novel was published to great success in June 1933, but provoked violent reactions from some quarters due to its frank depictions of sex.

[2] The story is divided into seventeen chapters and is written using the third person narrative mode; interspersed between them are a number of interludes all entitled "The Observations of the Green Mare" which are written as first person narratives.

These two different narrative modes used throughout the book allow the reader to observe the characters and situations from slightly different perspectives.

[2][3] The novel is essentially an examination of the sexual mores and behaviors of the members of a small 19th century French village (the fictitious Claquebue[4] in the Jura department) around the time of the Franco-Prussian War.

The plot concerns a feud that has taken place for generations between the Haudouin and Maloret families, and a missing letter that contains revealing secrets relating to the conflict.