Awarded the Grand Prix for Literature by the Académie Française and adapted into a classic film by Robert Bresson, Diary of a Country Priest has long been recognized as a literary masterpiece. In this acclaimed new translation by Bernanos scholar Michael R. Tobin, the full, unabridged work is made available to English-language readers for the first time.

Set in rural France, the novel recounts the joys and travails of a young parish priest, tormented by illness and afflicted by awkwardness, as he deals with a colorful cast of local characters and endures deep interior suffering. Accessible to Catholic and non-Catholic readers alike, it is a tour de force of spiritual storytelling, destined to be a classic for generations to come.

“This novel, so immense in significance and beauty, is a portrait of a suffering soul, a simple priest who carries within his own body the sins of others, and in his heart an incomplete love for himself. As the events of the story unfold, we come to know this highly sensitive soul, so dedicated, so yearning to help others. Yet even as his worsening health is combined with a dark night of the soul, grace moves in him, and through him, for the salvation of others. This fine new translation offers us afresh a major Christian classic, which prevails as one of the great works of human literature.”

 — Michael D. O’Brien, Author, Island of the World

“Tobin’s graceful translation of Bernanos’ magnificent novel illustrates an uncommon path to holiness."

— Ron Hansen, Author, Mariette in Ecstasy 

"The best Spiritual Book of the 20th Century.” — USA Today

"A book of utmost sensitivity, compassion, and deep encompassing art.” —New York Times Book Review

“This new translation of Georges Bernanos' classic work is a major literary event. After nine decades, the complete text of this great Catholic novel appears in English for the first time. Finally, we can read Bernanos' masterpiece as he wrote it.”

— Dana Gioia, Author, Can Poetry Matter?

“Bernanos’ book is one of the most profound psychological novels ever written, to be ranked beside those of Dostoyevsky. It is a piercing examination of the spiritual life of an innocent man whose faith in God, and whose unpretentious attempts at charity, permit him to read the souls of others, though he himself is hardly aware of how rare the gift is. Tobin's translation is lucid and powerfully moving, and the restoration of so many pages of the original novel is, for this reader, a great and unexpected gift.”

— Anthony Esolen, Author, The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord

“Michael Tobin has produced a stunning translation of a great spiritual classic. Bernanos’ portrait of a lonely young priest struggling with illness and isolation is both tender and startlingly honest. This book is one of the most important Catholic novels to come out of the twentieth century, offering insights into the spiritual battles of everyday life that are as relevant today as they were a century ago.”

— Fiorella de Maria, Author, The Father Gabriel Mysteries

“Those of us who have read this classic work will be shocked to discover that we haven't really read it at all. The ‘official’ translation is deficient and defective. Thankfully, with this new, definitive translation, we can actually read the complete, unadulterated novel that Bernanos wrote.”

— Joseph Pearce, Author, Faith of Our Fathers: A History of True England

“Your time spent with this book will be richly rewarded. It has all the bloodshed, tragedy, heroic sacrifice, and emotional drama of an Iliad or a Don Quixote—confined to the space of a most gentle heart. This book makes me cry just for the beauty of it. And Michael Tobin manages, like any great artist, to disappear into the beauty of his work.”

— Fr. Augustine Wetta, O.S.B., Author, Humility Rules

“’Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?’ (Romans 6:3). Set in the long shadow of the Cross, this novel which concludes with humiliating death contains a happier ending than any novelist could conjure.”

— Joshua Hren, Author, Blue Walls Falling Down