Que ma joie demeure

Joy of Man's Desiring (French: Que ma joie demeure) is a 1936 novel by the French writer Jean Giono. The story takes place in an early 20th-century farmer's community in southern France, where the inhabitants suffer from a mysterious disease, while a healer tries to save them by teaching the value of joy. The title is taken from Johann Sebastian Bach's chorale Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. An English translation by Katherine Allen Clarke was published in 1940.