'La Gloire de mon père', published in France in 1957, is the first volume of four autobiographical novels by Marcel Pagnol. The second volume, 'Le château de ma mere', was published in 1958. In the novels, Marcel's meeting Lili takes place in volume two, as does Marcel's decision to stay at Provence as a hermit. The two novels were translated into English and published by Doubleday (in the U.S) as a single book in 1960 under the title 'The Days Were Too Short', This translation was reprinted by North Point Press as a single book titled 'My Father's Glory / and / My Mother's Castle' in 1986.
During preparation director Yves Robert was admitted in an hospital owing to an intestinal obstruction. So he was not able to scout in the south of France to choose locations for the movie . He was replaced for this task by director Claude Pinoteau.