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I think we sometimes underestimate the devastating impact of the Great War on the whole French nation for decades afterwards. We point to the Second World War and their so-called surrender, without understanding how the loss of almost a whole generation of young men only some 20 years or so before could still weigh so heavily on them. This book explores these themes in an accessible way through the medium of a love story.
I would also strongly recommend "Fields of Glory" by Jean Rouaud for a similar powerful evocation of this period in history. It may be getting on for a hundred years ago now, but we still see these same horrors of war in the 21st century.
Mathilde was Manech's fiancée when he marched off to battle. She's also confined to a wheelchair, unable to walk since she fell off a stepladder at age 3. In 1919, she's contacted by a dying survivor of the war, ex-Sergeant Esperanza, who'd been in charge of the provost detail assigned to escort the five condemned men to the front trench, as well as act as censor for the last letter each was permitted to write home. He tells Mathilde of their bizarre fate, and gives her copies of their last letters, transcribed by him personally. Using these copies and the veteran's story to provide clues, Mathilde embarks on a multi-year search for the truth behind Manech's death. Interviewing friends, family members, and lovers of Marech's four condemned companions, as well as other soldiers present in the trench, Mathilde needs to answer the question, "Is he truly dead?" She has doubts. The evidence is inconsistent.
A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT is an odyssey of mystery, official cover-ups, lies, misperceptions, secrets, coincidence, tenuous clues, guilt, innocence, and honor. And, ultimately, love. Astute and sardonic Mathilde, perhaps because of her affliction, is a take-no-prisoners dynamo of perseverance. No obstacle is too great that it can't be overcome. In the end, she finds ... Truth.
This novel by Sébastien Japrisot is an unusual and unusually intelligent detective story, as well as a look at an almost-forgotten time and place strewn with the wreckage - physical, emotional and psychological - of the War to End All Wars. You'll put it down feeling ... satisfied. I recommend it unreservedly.
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