L'eau des collines Add a review

The Water of the Hills (L'Eau des collines) is a two-volume novel by the French writer and director Marcel Pagnol, made up of Jean de Florette and Manon des sources, both originally published in 1962. It was first translated in English in 1966, under the title Manon of the Springs.

The books tell a tale of deception, betrayal and revenge, set in the hills of the massif de l'Étoile, near Pagnol’s home city of Marseille in southern France, in the early 20th century.

Pagnol adapted the novel from a film he had himself written and directed in 1952, Manon of the Spring. The first volume functioned as a prequel of Pagnol's original script, while the second volume told a new version of the 1952 film's story. Pagnol said he had based himself on a story he had heard at the age of thirteen, from a peasant who lived in the mountains above his parents' holiday home near Aubagne (and thus near the fictional La Bastide).

An adaptation of the complete novel was directed by Claude Berri in 1986, with the two films Jean de Florette and Manon des sources.