“Les Brumes du Clos du Doubs”: this is the name of the first novel by Jacques Jeannerat. The book was recently released by Éditions Slatkine. Inspired by a true story, the work tells the story of a 14-year-old girl who becomes pregnant by a man twice her age in a village in the Jura in 1931. Shaken in her Christian values, the father then chases his daughter out of the village. Of Jura origin and former journalist at the Journal de Genève, Jacques Jeannerat does not hide his interest in the great family and rural stories of the early 20th century. In “Les Brumes du Clos du Doubs”, he deals in particular with the place and importance of religious values at that time in the Jura, more particularly in the Clos du Doubs. Despite the theme with sometimes difficult consequences, the author explains that he still wanted to show the notion of forgiveness and love within a family.
The author has inserted passages in patois or Jura dialect. “I found it interesting because it gives a local authenticity to the story,” explains the 67-year-old who also carried out historical research to write his novel. He notes, for example, that he looked into the question of how people moved around at the time or even what they ate in the Clos du Doubs.
There are therefore real elements in the novel, such as the names of the mayor, the regent and the priest of the time, explains Jacques Jeannerat. The latter mixes real facts and romance but he admits that the backbone of his book is reality. Jacques Jeannerat explains that the aim of the novel is to explain what life was like at the time.
The novel “Les Brumes du Clos du Doubs” is available from Éditions Slatkine in bookstores in the region. /ech
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