A Jayne Sinclair Genealogical Mystery Novella - Book 5 by M.J.Lee
My rating: 3.8 of 5 stars
A truly enjoyable Christmas novella that tells an extraordinary event that actually happened, through fictional characters and of course fictional dialogues.
---> Readable as a standalone, it's tagged as mystery but it's not a crime mystery ( at least not this book of the series ) , actually it is a search for history regarding people and events of the past.
---> The story takes place on 2 temporal planes: 1914 at the front, in the English trenches in Belgium and in 2017 in England, when the investigator Jayne Sinclaire tries to shed light on past events.
In 2017, Jayne Sinclaire, a genealogical investigator, receives a visit from a father and his son: they have found some old objects in the attic, belonging to his great-grandfather, of which they know nothing and would like to discover their history.
Back in time, in 1914, during the first year of World War I, private Tom Wright finds himself in the cold and in the mud, in the trenches, dreaming of being at home in England, with his wife and children preparing the Christmas goose.
A few hundred meters away is the German trench.
The soldiers of both trenches shout jokes about the war at each other, until one evening some Christmas trees appear from the German trench and classic Christmas carols are heard... here the magic begins... that magic that knows no flags and barriers and unites all men through the heart and the desire to live peacefully.
I'll let you enjoy the rest in the book. :-) it's touching.
While I was fascinated by the backstory chapters (the events of which I already knew from non-fiction books I read in the past) and felt affection for the characters I read about.
Though I couldn't feel any emotion during the investigative chapters in 2017 and no empathy towards investigator J. Sinclair. That character seemed rather flat and insignificant to me.
For this reason I only gave 3.8 of 5 stars (all earned from the chapters of the past), if the storytelling of modern times chapters had also been a little bit more engaging I could have given 5 stars.
I want to add that I will read with pleasure other books by this author, hoping that in the other novels ( that are much longer than novellas ), even the character of today's temporal plane is well developed and can be more interesting than in the short story.
Still regarding the past part, I add that every time I read about that event, which happened spontaneously, outside of any war scheme and any imagination, I feel moved and I recommend everyone to read it because it is also an invitation to reflection.
Unfortunately, humanity has not learned anything and there are still wars that destroy innocent lives, but perhaps we, in our small circle of life, could try to learn something, give more value to feelings and people, without taking anything for granted .
About the Christmas Truce of 1914, a good film, with well-known actors, was made in 2005.
More I would like to advise you to read the collection of letters from the front, with the true testimony of the soldiers who took part in that very special event.
You can find more information about the movie and that book of letters collection in this post of mine from December 6th:
---> JOYEUX NOEL -MERRY CHRISTMAS (2005) THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE 1914.
( Thanks for reading my review, please, forgive any errors you may find in my text, English is not my mother tongue. Merry Christmas everybody ! :-) )
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