The Peasants

Name: The Peasants
ISBN: 9780241524244

Wladyslaw Reymont

Penguin Publishing Group · Print & ebook · June 10, 2025

A Classics pick for readers exploring The Peasants.

The Classics 20th-Century Historical Fiction Polish Fiction short story

historical

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Who it’s for: For layered village drama where romance meets gossip and rural life.
Themes: Romantic entanglement, Rural Polish life, Village gossip and social drama
Pacing: Reflective

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About this book

One of Poland's most significant twentieth-century epics, by the 1924 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature A Penguin Classic In the village of Lipce, scandal, romance and drama crackle in every hearth. Boryna, a widower and the village's wealthiest farmer, has taken the young and beautiful Jagusia as his bride – but she only has eyes for his impetuous son Antek.

Over the course of four seasons – Autumn to Summer – the tangled skein of their story unravels, watched eagerly by the other peasants: the gossip Jagustynka, pious Roch, hot-blooded Mateusz, gentle Witek ... Richly lyrical and thrillingly realist, at turns comic, tragic and reflective, Wladyslaw Reymont's magnum opus is a love song to a lasting dream of rural Poland, and to the eternal, timeless matters of the heart.

Village Entanglements

For layered village drama where romance meets gossip and rural life.

Come here for

Romance, gossip, and family tensions woven through village life
A four-season sweep from autumn to summer

Expect

Lyrical realism shifting between comedy, tragedy, and reflection
An ensemble view of enduring matters of the heart

Where it sits

Polish Fiction	94%
The Classics	34%
20th-Century Historical Fiction	21%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

The Classics
20th-Century Historical Fiction
Polish Fiction

Authors: Wladyslaw Reymont
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: June 10, 2025
Format: Print & ebook
Theme: Romantic entanglement · Rural Polish life · Village gossip and social drama
Reading lane: The Classics