In Auvergne under Louis XIV and Louis XV, through a family from Viverole, the author introduces us to the bell founders. An exciting novel about this itinerant trade where the bell makers are also farmers and peasants. We live to the rhythm of a village in the deep France at the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century.
It is a description of this trade, its practices, the tour of France to gain further knowledge. Jean Anglade guides us through Auvergne, Forez, using the local dialect, then lets us discover the regions: Vivarais, Lyonnais, Dauphiné, Velay, Poitou, Burgundy, everywhere where bells need to be cast.
Then Pardoux Mosnier finds himself in Moscow at the invitation of the tsar to cast the largest bell in the world. After his initiatory journey, he acquired fame and reputation. His family is traditionally bell founders, Saintier!
Through this novel, we discover the history and methods of this profession where the love of well-done work prevailed over other considerations. It is also a historical and sociological work on the society of the Ancien Régime, highlighting the relationships between lords, the church, and the population. A society with more cohesive human relations among people where selfish individualism did not exist.
A book that could serve as an example to our time of unbridled consumerism. Our ancestors bought out of necessity, not whim or fashion trend. Thus, one learned the value of money.
