The seed man

L'homme semence version anglaise traduite par Nancy Huston. En 1852, Violette Ailhaud est en âge de se marier quand son village des Basses-Alpes est brutalement privé de tous ses hommes par la répression qui suit le soulèvement républicain de décembre 1851. Deux ans passent dans un isolement total. Entre femmes, serment est fait que si un homme vient, il sera leur mari commun, afin que la vie continue dans le ventre de chacune.
"It came from the farthest depths of the valley. Long before it forded the river, long before its shadow interrupted the gleam of water between sandbars like a slow blink, we knew it was a man. Our empty, husbandless women's bodies had started thrumming in a way there was no mistaking. In unison, our exhausted arms left off stacking hay. Glancing at one another, each and all of us remembered our oath.
We grasped hands, squeezing each other's hands so hard that our knuckles fairly snapped - our dream, icy with fear and burning with desire, had been set into motion". Postface de l'historien Jean-Marie Guillon de l'université de Provence, membre de l'association 1851.