[Review] Light Upon You by E.M. Jensen

For nearly two thousand years, one question has endured beneath the heart of Rome: Is this where Peter rests?

Under the soaring dome of St. Peter's Basilica, beneath marble floors and layers of sacred history, lies a tomb that has drawn emperors, popes, pilgrims, archaeologists, and skeptics across the centuries.

And the tiniest observer watched it all.

Whilst I may not be religious, I'm fascinated by the history of the Church. And I'm particularly fascinated with the tomb of St. Peter. I wrote a piece on it a while back but sadly can't find the old link for it - it's probably on an old blog that was deleted years ago, so maybe I should rewrite a little something. And I'll admit, after reading this book, I'm very tempted to.

Light Upon You tells the story of the tomb of St. Peter, the search for it beneath the floor of St. Peter's Basilica, and the discovery of what is believed to be the tomb of the Apostle in 1939 during archaeological investigations. During these excavations a number of burials were found and no one was really sure if the tomb they wanted was actually there - until Marguerita Guarducci deciphered a wall of graffiti that stated 'Peter is near'. Bones were found close by, tucked into a tiny little alcove along with the complete skeleton of a tiny little mouse. Of course there were controversies around the discovery with many refusing to believe that these were actually the bones of St. Peter. But the Pope confirmed these were actually the bones of the Apostle and they were reburied in the tomb with ceremony. Whether or not these are truly the bones of St Peter is something I don't suppose anyone will ever know, but let's be honest...the evidence points to it.

Interestingly, Light Upon You, tells the story from the point of view of the mouse that was found by the bones. This little thing crawls into the burial chamber and cannot get out, so ends up keeping the apparent bones of St Peter company for decades. The mouse becomes a guardian of Peter, and is able to See the events that surround the search to discover the tomb. It reads like a conversation between friends, albeit one sided, and the mouse talks to Peter as if he is actually there - which I suppose he is. Our narrator tells Peter how he was worshipped and protected throughout the years, how the great basilica was built around him and just how special Peter was to the Roman Catholic religion and how the interest built around finding the actual tomb and proving to the world that the Vatican really was the place that St. Peter was buried. I loved how it felt like a conversation, and I loved how the mouse tried his best to get his head around human humour. It is such a novel way of story telling, and I wish that more books told their stories from such different perspectives.

I trained in archaeology for years, and worked in the field for a short time, so reading about these excavations (albeit in a fictional manner) really gripped me. I also got a tad angry when the excavation team treated the site poorly - it's no wonder that the bones were stored away for safety!

I loved seeing how the story unfolded throughout history, with chapters jumping between the time of Peter's execution and just after, to the 1940s. Whilst many would expect such time jumps to be off putting, these flowed particularly well and of course made sense to the story. It makes for an easy read, and a quick one - I finished it within just a couple of days, wanting to know how the tale ended and wanting to get to know the mouse a little better.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was different, and different can be good. Light Upon You does different very well with its tiny little narrator, whose bones still rest with those of St. Peter. A different perspective on historical fiction that is very welcome indeed.

4/5