Un jardin sur l'Oronte

by Maurice Barrès

"Un jardin sur l'Oronte" by Maurice Barrès is a novel published in 1922. Set during the Crusades in the Middle Ages, it tells a love story between a Christian and a Saracen woman, supposedly translated from a manuscript by an Irish archaeologist in 1914. The novel sparked controversy, particularly in Catholic press, which condemned its sensuality as an offense to religious morality. After Barrès's death, it was adapted into an opera and a film.