A traveller arrives in a curious land: here, people grow statues in fields. While pretty incredulous at first, after actually seeing the actual where gardeners are growing them, he decides to discover more about this land, and start taking notes to write a book about it.
At first, it appears as a pretty idyllic if rigid society. The statuary gardens are separated in walled domains, with practically no trade between them, but a tradition of hospitality to each-other (and, as we see, the rare foreign) travellers. People are good-natured and seem happy. However, there is no such thing as an utopia, and the traveller will also discover the other side of the coin.
Note, though, that this is neither a perfect society nor a horrible one: it has its good as well as its ugly sides. And as traditionalist it is, even it is confronted to changes.
This book is hard to classify. While there is one fantasy element (growing statues), it is not a magical world. The land and society itself is not like any historical (or current) one I ever heard about, though it is not unfamiliar either. It is a book about the traveller discovering this land and its facets (remarkably believable and coherent, for its strangeness), but also what happens to some of its inhabitants, and what happens to the traveller himself, who is an active character and not just a simple point of view.
There are very few physical descriptions of characters, and only one is named, as most of the character description will be about their actions and thoughts (either the narrator’s, or what he can infer from others).
This book was written in the early '80, but fell into obscurity until being rediscovered in 2010 and getting some of the recognition it deserves.
Fascinatingly, there is one passage about adolescents who cannot find their places in this codified society and, with the resulting identity problems, flee to the Steppes, where there is a legend about a new chief among the nomads - each of them projecting their own illusions on it, with little relation to actual reality. This passage strongly reminded me of those young people who cannot find their identity in our society and similarly go to places like Syria, chasing illusions with little relation to reality and discovering said reality too late, if at all.
It is the first tome of a series called le Cycle des Contrées (“Cycle of Lands/Regions/Realms”), and for what I’ve heard, at least the second one is as good.
If you ever have the chance to find a translation or be native/bilingual in French, read it.
