Its French title is Le Bonheur fou, which means "the mad happiness".

The story is set in the 1840s and follows Angelo Pardi as he is caught up in plots leading up to the Italian revolution of 1848.

The novel is a standalone sequel to The Horseman on the Roof, which is set earlier and also features Pardi as the main character.

Lewis went on: "The one aim Giono seems to have in mind, apart from the contriving of swift and lively episodes and the exact rendering of physical sensations, is to recapture something of the spirit of Stendhal, especially The Charterhouse of Parma.

The prose of The Straw Man likewise attempts the Stendhalian eruptions of ironic juxtaposition, and it indulges in the same nervous, playful italicizing.