The Milkmaid of Montfermeil (Novels of Paul de Kock Volume XX)

The novel follows a young milkmaid whose engagement and marriage become the focal point for a village's social ambitions and romantic intrigues. Through interlinked scenes of households, salons, and countryside gatherings, the narrative traces suitors, matchmaking schemes, and jealousies while depicting provincial manners and vanity. Characters range from eager patrons and shrewd local businessmen to flirtatious women and blustering officers, whose conversations reveal hypocrisy, desire for status, and comic pretensions. Episodes alternate light humor and gentle satire with sentimental portrayals of love, culminating in community celebrations that expose both tenderness and social calculation.