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

SS-GB Nazi-occupied Britain, 1941

Prolific English writer Len Deighton's SS-GB: Nazi occupied Britain 1941 is one of the earlier titles in this genre with the title referring to the branch of the Nazi SS that controls Britain.

Published in 1978 it depicts London in 1941 suffering under German rule nine months after Britain's surrender to the Nazis. Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer is investigating the murder of a prominent nuclear physicist involved in the resistance against Nazi rule.

In this novel King George VI is imprisoned in the Tower of London and his daughters have sought exile in New Zealand. Winston Churchill has been arrested and executed by the Nazis.

Archer battles a power struggle between his Nazi SS overlords as he attempts to solve the crime. He discovers the Resistance is attempting to free the King.

British author Graeme Shimmin writes in his blog that “SS-GB is a convoluted and downbeat story with no heroes and no easy answers, but Deighton’s skill keeps the reader engrossed and creates an entirely believable world. It is one of the key novels of alternate history, and a must read for all alternate history fans.”


Deighton, Len. SS-GB: Nazi occupied Britain 1941, London: Book Club Associates, 1978.

References:

Graeme Shimmin's Review 
Existential Ennui Blog Review 
SS-GB Wiki 
Goodreads Reader reviews
Len Deighton's Website

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

Weapons of Choice

Weapons of choice is Australian author, John Birmingham's debut novel. It is the first book in his Axis of time trilogy. It is a curious combination of alternative history and science fiction.

The basic premise is that a technologically advanced naval fleet in 2021 is transported back in time to 1942, via a wormhole, into the American fleet on its way to the World War 2 Battle of Midway in the Pacific theatre.

In this novel Birmingham ignores the Grandfather paradox in backwards time travel. In this paradox what would happen if someone travelled back in time and killed his grandfather before his father was born? He wouldn't have been born of course.

That aside, in Weapons of choice Birmingham explores the far-reaching consequences of modern computerised weapons travelling back to the time of World War 2.

Birmingham, John. Weapons of choice: World War 2.1, Sydney: Macmillan, 2004.

Axis of time trilogy

• Weapons of choice (2004)
  
• Designated targets (2005)
  
• Final impact (2007) 

References:

Books in Print Professional reviews 
Literary Travesty review 
Axis of time Wiki 
Goodreads Reader Reviews