Project Gutenberg 2004-02-01 Public domain in the USA. 725 France, Hector 1837 1908 Carrington, Charles 1867 1921 Fernandino, Paul Harry The Grip of Desire: The Story of a Parish-Priest This file was produced by Carlo Traverso, Relka Bihari, Andrea Ball, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team from images generously made available by the Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr "The Grip of Desire: The Story of a Parish-Priest" by Hector France is a novel likely written in the late 19th century. The narrative explores the inner life of a village priest, known as the Curé, as he grapples with the conflicts between his clerical obligations and his human desires. It dives into the themes of passion, temptation, and morality as the priest navigates his relationships within the parish, particularly in a village setting filled with young women whose presence and allure challenge his vows of chastity. The opening of the novel introduces the Curé of Althausen, a man of thirty who is respected for his teachings yet is suspected to harbor desires beneath his seemingly chaste exterior. He delivers sermons emphasizing love and practical morality to his congregation, which starkly contrasts with traditional religious tenets. As he interacts with the parishioners, he faces temptations, particularly from the lively and youthful women who bring color to his otherwise disciplined life. The beginning establishes a tension between his role as a spiritual leader and his reflections on life, nature, and unfulfilled desires, setting the stage for the unfolding drama of lust and longing that permeates the rest of the story. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 80.9 (6th grade). Easy to read. en Villages -- France -- Fiction Priests -- Fiction PQ Text Category: Novels 609815 2025-08-05T05:57:10.554483 text/html 609661 609355 2024-11-05T07:25:04.360209 2023-10-05T07:46:53.241146 text/html text/html 308666 2025-08-05T05:57:21.613406 application/epub+zip 315313 2025-08-05T05:57:13.925469 application/epub+zip 305330 2025-08-05T05:57:12.553431 application/epub+zip 613658 2025-08-05T05:57:27.608360 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 539645 2025-08-05T05:57:20.536409 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 480414 2022-09-05T10:59:51.582625 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 530523 2025-08-05T05:57:10.003476 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 510401 2024-10-28T18:20:46 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 18272 2025-08-05T05:57:27.845381 application/rdf+xml 15379 2025-08-05T05:57:13.055468 image/jpeg 3438 2025-08-05T05:57:12.806440 image/jpeg 298896 2025-08-05T05:57:10.602461 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia en.wikipedia More titles under Villiot, Jean de fr.wikipedia More titles under Villiot, Jean de