Novelist beaten up by the neighbours he wrote about

It would have been like Quasimodo beating up Victor Hugo, but that's just what happened to a French writer, Pierre Jourde, who was set upon by the characters of his novel.

Five residents of one rural idyll in the mountainous Auvergne region, upset at his portrayal, were found guilty in court yesterday of assaulting him.

The tale, so fantastic it seems like a work of fiction in itself, began in 2003 when Jourde's novel, Pays Perdu (Lost Land) swept on to the book shelves and drew critical acclaim. The book recounted the day-to-day life in the farming village of Lussaud, where the author's father was born, but in none-too-flattering terms. It painted a vivid picture of the Sunday church service, where "hymns are interpreted without pleasure by people without importance, gently moving their lips".

It denounced the village's widespread alcoholism and revealed the 1960s affair between two neighbours, who have since returned to their spouses and whose children have married each other.

Jourde believed that simply changing the names of the characters would be enough to placate his neighbours. And initially, he felt the tactic had worked as there was little sign of grumbling. But it soon emerged that this was more down to the absence of a bookshop in Lussaud rather than the understanding nature of its residents. By word of mouth, the contents of the book spread around the village.

The author tried to defuse the situation by writing to each family in the village explaining the intention of his novel and claiming to be proud of his heritage. But to no avail. The people of Lussaud felt they and their ancestors had been betrayed by one of their own. On 31 July as the writer and his family arrived for their summer retreat, they saw a sign had been put up at the village entrance carrying an ominous allusion to the death of a poet. As they approached their farmhouse, which has been in the family for generations, neighbours began to spout abuse, calling Jourde's two children "dirty Arabs". Their mother is Arab.

The irate villagers then swapped insults for stones, hurling them at the car. One smashed a window and injured a 15-month-old baby inside. Jourde hit back, striking the ringleader, a 72-year-old man. That pensioner was fined €500, and his four accomplices received two-month suspended jail sentences.

Jourde, a professor of literature at the University of Grenoble and author of six books, has spoken of his fury that a writer cannot write about what he wants, and of the fact that there are now "no-go zones" not only in cities but also in villages.

The magistrate said: "All Pierre Jourde has done is to describe the solitude, the pain, the promiscuity," adding that there was also a lot of love and intimacy portrayed in the pages.