Farthing

Farthing is the first in Jo Walton's acclaimed World War Two alternative history Small Change trilogy. It was first published in 2006.

The main action in Farthing occurs in 1949, eight years after a group of upper crust Englishmen (known as the Farthing Set) have overthrown Winston Churchill and negotiated peace with Nazi Germany.

With Hitler in control of the European continent, the somewhat fascist members of the Farthing Set attend a weekend retreat at the country house of Lord and Lady Eversley. There Sir James Thirkie, the main architect of the “Farthing Peace” and Prime Ministerial prospect, is murdered with a yellow Star of David pinned prominently across his chest.

The murderer is immediately suspected to be David Kahn, the Jewish husband of the Eversley's estranged daughter Lucy. Both had unexpectedly been invited to the weekend get-together.

Inspector Carmichael of Scotland Yard is assigned to the case and quickly realises that Kahn may have been set up by this deeply anti-Semitic crowd.

This well-written and -researched novel revolves around the Inspector's investigations and Walton delves deeply into themes of homosexuality, fascism, class and anti-Semitism.

As the first book of the Small Change trilogy, the plot twists in Farthing set up the context of the following two novels admirably.

Walton, Jo. Farthing, London: Corsair, 2014.


Small Change trilogy

• Farthing (2006)
• Ha'penny (2007)
• Half a crown (2008)

References:
 
Books in Print Professional Reviews
Jo Walton's Website
Goodreads Reader Reviews

Fatherland

 

Fatherland is the 1992 alternative history novel written by Robert Harris, author of several other best-selling thrillers with historical and contemporary themes including Archangel, Enigma, The fear index, The ghost and Pompeii.

Set 20 years after Hitler's victory in the Second World War, Fatherland begins with the body of a prominent Nazi being found in suburban Berlin. Police investigator Xavier March investigates the death in a world where the cold war is between the US and the Third Reich.

In this dystopia the father of JFK, Joseph Kennedy is the US President. Britain has surrendered to Germany and Edward VIII is restored as king with Wallis his queen. Winston Churchill, King George VI and Princess Elizabeth have all fled to exile in Canada.

With the help of an American journalist and love interest Charlotte “Charlie” Maguire, March delves deeper into the case and they discover other suspicious murders in the Reich.

They conclude that each victim was involved in the Wansee Conference, (a real event in our world), where the Nazis formulated the Final Solution. This was the Nazi attempt to exterminate the world's Jewish population.

In Fatherland the world knows nothing of the Holocaust and March realises the deaths are an attempt by the Reich to keep it that way.

This best-selling novel is a rollicking read and will be thrilling for anyone with an interest in World War2 and the many ways it could have played out.

Harris, Robert. Fatherland, London: Arrow Books, 2009.

References:

Books in Print Professional Reviews
Robert Harris' Website
Goodreads Reader Reviews

The Plot Against America

 

Philip Roth's prize-winning The plot against America has several similarities to Jo Walton's Small Change series. Set in World War 2 America as opposed to Britain, Roth explores the chilling consequences of a fascinating “what if”. What if the right-wing, isolationist and anti-Semitic aviation hero Charles A. Lindburgh had defeated Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1940 US presidential election?

The plot against America is narrated from the perspective of a young Philip Roth and his family. In it he explores the virulent anti-Semitism of 1940's America.

President Lindburgh proceeds to lead America on the path towards fascism, signing treaties with both Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan promising that the US will stay out of their expansionist wars. He also enacts new laws to take Jewish youth from the east coast cities of the US to the rural Midwest and South to “Americanise” them.

Whilst there is no evidence that Lindburgh ever planned to run as president, he was a staunch isolationist and felt that “undesirable elements” of the US population were pushing America towards war.

The plot against America received rave reviews with the Library Journal stating that “Roth's take on alternative history is crafted with chilling plausibility” and that it is “[a] novel of fear and fearful possibility ...”


Roth, Philip. The plot against America, Sydney: Random House Australia, 2004.

References:





 Books in Print Professional Reviews
New York Times Review
Goodreads Reader Reviews