Just Finished Reading: Dominion by C J Sansom (FP: 2012) [690pp]
England, the Dark Days of 1940. With the situation deteriorating by the day Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain has only one choice to make – resignation. He bites the bullet and calls for his arch rival Winston Churchill. There, in the PM’s office, he is offered a job he cannot easily refuse – Minister of War in Lord Halifax’s new administration. For a moment, disappointed, he hesitates and then decides for the good of the country and accepts.
England, 1952. The long drift since those dark days towards
an ever more authoritarian regime is speeding up. Political parties, other than
the existing ruling Party of National Unity, have been banned. Churchill, the
ailing leader of the Resistance, is a hunted man with a price on his head.
Despite an increasing severe crackdown strikes, passive resistance and acts of
terrorism increase daily. America has just reported the detonation of a weapon
that has shocked the world and horrified the Nazi regime still bogged down in
their fight with the Soviet Union. Only similar nuclear weapons held by the
Germans can save them from a seemingly forever war. But progress is slow and a
useable weapon as far away as ever…. Until the Abwehr, German military
intelligence, hear a rumour. There has been an inadvertent security breach by
the Americans. Secrets have been shouted in anger and a man barely holding onto
his sanity may hold the key inside his fevered brain that could give the Nazi’s
the ‘Bomb’. Imperial Office Civil Servant David Fitzgerald, an old Oxford
friend of Frank Muncaster, the man now horrified that he simply knows too much,
is approached by the Resistance to help them spirit Frank away before Abwehr
agents can grab him. Thrown into a world he can barely comprehend, David finds
himself as the epicentre of events that could determine the future of the world
for centuries to come. Meanwhile, in Germany, Adolf Hitler is dying and his
possible successors are beginning to vie with each other for the coveted role
of Leader.
As much as I love Alternate History books this particular
example has been sitting unloved for years before I dragged it out of obscurity.
The author is well known for another genre though with his long running
Shardlake mystery series based in the 16th century. So this is QUITE
the departure! To be honest I was hooked pretty quickly. The ascendency of
Churchill to Prime Minister in May 1940 is one of THE pivotal moments in
British and, arguably, world history. What would have happened if he had not
assumed that role? The author makes a VERY good stab at answering that
question. Essentially an armistice with a slow creeping ‘nazification’ care of
sympathises and collaborationists in the existing British government and larger
structure – followed inevitably by various forms of resistance. The situation
in Britain seems very believable as do the main characters who, mostly on the
British side, had hoped to ‘keep their heads down’ and wait for it to pass but
it never does, which means that difficult choices have to be made by quite
ordinary people. The international situation is also pretty fascinating – not only
the ongoing war raging in Russia but the US starting to come out of isolation
and the Japanese equally bogged down in China (having followed the ‘Northern
Strategy’ rather than the one they followed in our timeline so never attacking
Pearl Harbor). The way these, and other, changes play out over the decade since
1940 is both delicious to watch and makes for a very credible backdrop to this
gripping novel. Certainly one of the best reads of the year and most definitely
highly recommended.
[Side Note: I did debate whether or not classifying this as 'Science-Fiction' as, apart from it being alt-history in the sense that it speculates on a 'What If' scenario, there are no other Sci-Fi elements in the story. After some internal discussion I decided to go with SF in a more generic sense as I'd say that most (if not all) alt-histories are fundamentally Science Fiction(ish) in their core nature. What do you think?]
New High Score(s) (since records began 22nd October
2020)
Page Count: 690pp [+129pp] – I think this will last
for a while yet….!
Average page count: 336pp [+1p]
5 comments:
Ohhh, I like this premise -- the more Nazis and Soviets slug it out, the less occasion they have for bothering the rest of us. It's also original; I don't know that I've heard of any AF starts like it.
@ Stephen: This is an excellent novel on many levels. I think you'd really like it. I was impressed at how much logical *sense* it made. Even without Allied involvement I can easily imagine the Soviets fighting LONG after 1940. They're not the kind of society/country to go down easily. I was also impressed at the author's obvious understanding of and research into the British political environment at the time. I think I agreed with just about every supposition he made about how people would pick sides post-armistice.
Thanks for leaving me your link, it is interesting to see what you thought about the book. Here is my review.
As I mention there, the best quote is: "Whenever a party tells you national identity matters more than anything else in politics, that nationalism can sort out all the other problems, then watch out, because you’re on a road that can end with fascism." I think that should be considered by many even more today then when I first read this in 2018.
VERY true, Marianne. If only more people were paying attention today....
I'll see if I can dig out any more books like this to recommend to you and others.
Most people never pay attention, they just want the best life for themselves, until they see that never lasts.
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