Sébastien Japrisot's novel A Very Long Engagement was first published in France in 1991 and was translated into English and published in New York in 1994. Set in France during and after World War I, the plot revolves around the fate of five French soldiers who have been sentenced to death for shooting themselves in the hand to avoid military service. In January 1917 the men are marched to a frontline trench on the Somme, near Bouchavesnes. They are then pushed unarmed into no-man'sland between the French and German lines and abandoned to their fate.
After the war, Mathilde Donnay, the fiancée of Manech, begins a long investigation into what happened to the five men. She hopes against hope that her fiancé is still alive. Through correspondence with the wives of the condemned men and with former military officers, as well as the placing of newspaper advertisements and the hiring of a private detective, she eventually discovers the truth about what happened.
A Very Long Engagement is an antiwar novel that exposes the cruelty and horror of trench warfare, and the official lies and corruption that allowed atrocities to take place. The novel is also a detective story, as Mathilde unravels the mystery of what happened to the five men. Finally, the novel is a moving love story, which shows that love can endure even when war destroys everything else that is valuable.
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