Description
Book SynopsisDuring the First World War five French soldiers, accused of a cowardly attempt to evade duty, are bundled into no man''s land and certain death. Five bodies are later recovered; the families are notified that the men died in the line of duty...
After the war Mathilde, the fiancée of one of the men, receives a letter which hints at what might have happened, and she sets off to discover the fate of her beloved amid the carnage of battlefield. Her quest becomes an unusual and engrossing thriller as she discovers an increasing number of people trying to put her off the scent.
A Very Long Engagement is a suspenseful thriller and one which transforms a personal tragedy into the epitome of all wartime atrocities. The dénouement, when it finally happens, is moving and horribly convincing.
Trade ReviewThe narrative is brilliantly complex and beguiling, and the climax devastating * Independent *
Clever, highly readable… Neither predictable nor surprising, the dénouement, when it finally happens, is shocking, moving and horribly convincing * Literary Review *
A classic of its kind, brewing up enormous pathos undiluted by sentimentality * Daily Telegraph *
A fierce, elliptical novel that's both a gripping philosophical thriller and a highly moving meditation on the emotion consequences of war * New York Times *
Only the best historical fiction can make the journey into a distant time and return with a believable sense of how things really were. That Japrisot's book has done so is a mark of his great talent and experience as a writer * Washington Post *
