IMO, the following book by GM Neil McDonald fits your criteria perfectly....he is one of the best chess book authors in terms of explaining the reasoning behind the moves, plans and strategies to the chess amateur readership.
The book's title is unfortunate, as it gives no clue that it is exclusively an introduction and repertoire (i.e, not too many variants) to the French Defense...
How To Play Against 1 e4 by Neil McDonald....
here is a preview/excerpt from the Amazon Kindle edition of the book...(I don't particularly care for the Kindle format)...
https://www.google.com/books/edition/How_to_Play_Against_1e4/5oM7EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=How+To+Play+Against+1+e4&printsec=frontcover
The book The French Defence Move by Move by Damian Lemos is very good, but contains extensive, rather dense analysis - appropriate primarily for very experienced players...
For anyone rated below about 1500 ELO I would recommend Neil McDonald's book for an initial introduction to the French Defense.
otherwise you might check out (search 'French')...
Good Chess Openings Books For Beginners and Beyond...
https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/good-chess-openings-books-for-beginners-and-beyond
I am looking for a food beginner/intermediate level book on French defence. Optimally, from the Black side. I am looking for a substantial narrative (move by move format, ideally) and not too many variants (which I will not come across at my level any way). I do like the books from the Move by Move series, as well as Lakdawala and McDonald. Is The French Move by Move by Lemas any good? I'd appreciate any recommendations :-)