This theme was one very close to the author's heart for, during all his life, Bernanos wrestled with despair. It seems therefore appropriate that in his last book he should have described the struggle and the serenity of final insight. The story is drawn from a novel by Gertrud von Le Fort; Bernanos wrote it as a scenario, but it was not shown as a film until 1960. It was first published in volume form in 1949, was then soon dramatised and played in nearly every European country. In 1958 an opera Francis Poulenc, based on Bernanos' text, was given at Covent Garden.