Status
Available
Call number
Description
One summer weekend in 1949--but not our 1949--the well-connected "Farthing set," a group of upper-crust English families, enjoy a country retreat. Lucy is a minor daughter in one of those families; her parents were both leading figures in the group that overthrew Churchill and negotiated peace with Herr Hitler eight years before. Despite her parents' evident disapproval, Lucy is married--happily--to a London Jew. It was therefore quite a surprise to Lucy when she and her husband David found themselves invited to the retreat. It's even more startling when, on the retreat's first night, a major politician of the Farthing set is found gruesomely murdered, with abundant signs that the killing was ritualistic. It quickly becomes clear to Lucy that she and David were brought to the retreat in order to pin the murder on him. Major political machinations are at stake, including an initiative in Parliament, supported by the Farthing set, to limit the right to vote to university graduates. But whoever's behind the murder, and the frame-up, didn't reckon on the principal investigator from Scotland Yard being a man with very private reasons for sympathizing with outcasts and looking beyond the obvious. As the trap slowly shuts on Lucy and David, they begin to see a way out--a way fraught with peril in a darkening world."… (more)
Pages
319
DDC/MDS
| 813 |
Language
Awards
Nebula Award (Nominee — Novel — 2006)
Locus Award (Finalist — Science Fiction Novel — 2007)
Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award (Winner — Science Fiction — 2006)
Sunburst Award (Honourable Mention — 2007)
SF Site Editor's Choice (2006)
John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel (Finalist — 2007)
Quill Award (Finalist — 2007)
Sidewise Award (Finalist — 2006)
This Mystery is Amazing! (#10 — 2011)
Series
User reviews
LibraryThing member TadAD
As a straight mystery, this is only OK. The main characters are well-drawn though the minor ones are not; the plot is serviceable; the writing is good. With nothing more, I'd probably give this three stars.
What made this a very enjoyable read for me was the political subplot. Set in an alternate
The book is not perfect. There is a bit of an obsession with homosexuality (the reader begins to wonder if virtually everyone is homo- or bisexual in this England) and all characters seem to possess an infallible gay-dar. The mystery does whimper a bit to an ending as the political threads in the book come to the fore.
However, the parallels for us in our modern political climate are engrossing, thought-provoking and, quite frankly, a bit scary. I didn't want to put the book down and look forward to the sequel.
What made this a very enjoyable read for me was the political subplot. Set in an alternate
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history England (never fear, there's nothing science-fictiony about this...it's treated simply as a matter-of-fact background) where peace was made with Hitler ceding him the continent, the real story is the chilling creep into fascism and institutionalized racism that we get to witness.The book is not perfect. There is a bit of an obsession with homosexuality (the reader begins to wonder if virtually everyone is homo- or bisexual in this England) and all characters seem to possess an infallible gay-dar. The mystery does whimper a bit to an ending as the political threads in the book come to the fore.
However, the parallels for us in our modern political climate are engrossing, thought-provoking and, quite frankly, a bit scary. I didn't want to put the book down and look forward to the sequel.
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LibraryThing member starryharlequin
This book is very dark, and it earns every moment of its darkness.
I have a deep and abiding love of alternate histories and alternate universes, and this is one done exceptionally well. The setting isn't explored too much in the early parts of the book, but the skill of the prose in those sections
Lucy, one of the two narrators, annoyed me a bit for the first few chapters--she seemed much too flighty. (In fact, for those few chapters, I'm not sure I'd read a character that better fit that adjective.) But she grew on me, and I think, when I reread this, I'll find it more of a case of her having taken on the flightiness she was expected to have by members of her class, rather than an innate character trait. Still, that took a while getting over.
While I appreciated the appearance of bisexual characters, whose bisexuality was treated as 1) not a joke and 2) not making them unsuitable partners, the sheer number of queer characters in this book was a bit excessive. There was no reason for the group of people involved to have been so very non-heterosexual in practice as well as inclination. I think there was intended to be some sort of illustrative thing--how much harder it is for the lower-class gay character than the upper-class ones--but the sheer number of examples moved it from illuminating to ridiculous, for me.
Some minor spoilers involving mood rather than detail:
There are two things I especially love about this book. One of them is that at the end of the book, while both protagonists have the general outlines of the mystery solved, neither of them actually has the full story. The focus has shifted away from the mystery at that point, but it was an interesting subversion of the mystery genre, one I hadn't realized I was looking for until I read it. The other was that reading along, I had a spectrum in my head of the ways this political situation could end (informed by the fact that I knew there were sequels of a sort). But even with that, my worst-case scenario was actually a lot friendlier than the ending of the book. I'm actually holding off on reading the sequels until I have time to sit down and savor them fully, even though I want to be reading them RIGHT NOW.
I have a deep and abiding love of alternate histories and alternate universes, and this is one done exceptionally well. The setting isn't explored too much in the early parts of the book, but the skill of the prose in those sections
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was enough to convince me that we'd be getting to the good stuff eventually, and I wasn't wrong. Lucy, one of the two narrators, annoyed me a bit for the first few chapters--she seemed much too flighty. (In fact, for those few chapters, I'm not sure I'd read a character that better fit that adjective.) But she grew on me, and I think, when I reread this, I'll find it more of a case of her having taken on the flightiness she was expected to have by members of her class, rather than an innate character trait. Still, that took a while getting over.
While I appreciated the appearance of bisexual characters, whose bisexuality was treated as 1) not a joke and 2) not making them unsuitable partners, the sheer number of queer characters in this book was a bit excessive. There was no reason for the group of people involved to have been so very non-heterosexual in practice as well as inclination. I think there was intended to be some sort of illustrative thing--how much harder it is for the lower-class gay character than the upper-class ones--but the sheer number of examples moved it from illuminating to ridiculous, for me.
Some minor spoilers involving mood rather than detail:
There are two things I especially love about this book. One of them is that at the end of the book, while both protagonists have the general outlines of the mystery solved, neither of them actually has the full story. The focus has shifted away from the mystery at that point, but it was an interesting subversion of the mystery genre, one I hadn't realized I was looking for until I read it. The other was that reading along, I had a spectrum in my head of the ways this political situation could end (informed by the fact that I knew there were sequels of a sort). But even with that, my worst-case scenario was actually a lot friendlier than the ending of the book. I'm actually holding off on reading the sequels until I have time to sit down and savor them fully, even though I want to be reading them RIGHT NOW.
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LibraryThing member ChrisRiesbeck
I couldn't see how Walton could do a novel about Athena and Apollo setting up an experiment to implement Plato's ideal city (The Just City), and yet I loved the result. Walton has done it again with an alternate history novel, a genre of low interest for me, and yet another one about Nazi Germany.
Highly recommended.
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In this variant, England has made a truce with Hitler, and, eight years later, it appears to be holding its own while Jews die in concentration camps and Hitler battles the Bolsheviks. But the novel is not about that, at least initially, but is a well-done Dorothy Sayers homage, with murder at the manor. Chapters alternate between the first-person diary of a rebellious, smart, but somewhat insulated rich heroine, and the third-person detective tale of Inspector Peter Carmichael -- whose name presumably connects Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey with his best known portrayer, Ian Carmichael. Another character is named Angela Thirkie, a tip of the hat I assume to Angela Thirkell. I'm sure there are a zillion other such tidbits I missed. Mixing a cosy mystery with Nazis, anti-Semitism, and homophobia, shouldn't have worked, but it does brilliantly.Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member break
The devil is in the details. In the case of Jo Walton's Farthing almost literally. Others have written alternative history books about the "what if" scenario of the Nazis wining WWII. But those books are often set either in Germany or decades after the war ending. This book however is set only a
The events quickly are: the leading person of the "Farthing Set" (who signed the peace agreement and created friendly terms with Hitler) is killed in his own countryside house during party night. An unwanted Jewish man, who married in the family and a random fake communist are wrongly insinuated in the death and this I used as pretenses to breaking down on reds and Jews. Meanwhile the real killers are the other members of the Farthing Set, who are rapacious for more power. The narration's point of view is alternating between the gay detective's and the family's daughter's who married out to the Jewish small-loan banker. The voice Walton created for her is subtle, honest and the funniest in the whole lot.
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few years later and (mostly) in the English countryside. The details of the political system are sketched early on with wide brushstrokes, but the best parts of the book are the minutia details of how this imaginary system worked. The way nationalism, red scare (i.e. anti-bolshevikism) and anti-Semitism flawlessly could be combined with both the traditional British aristocratic temperament and get accepted by the working classes was frighteningly realistic. The nobles' penchant for understatement and keeping out for their own interests made the events depicted here too believable. The events quickly are: the leading person of the "Farthing Set" (who signed the peace agreement and created friendly terms with Hitler) is killed in his own countryside house during party night. An unwanted Jewish man, who married in the family and a random fake communist are wrongly insinuated in the death and this I used as pretenses to breaking down on reds and Jews. Meanwhile the real killers are the other members of the Farthing Set, who are rapacious for more power. The narration's point of view is alternating between the gay detective's and the family's daughter's who married out to the Jewish small-loan banker. The voice Walton created for her is subtle, honest and the funniest in the whole lot.
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LibraryThing member francescadefreitas
This was wonderful, a murder mystery, a romance, an alternate history version of Gosford Park. When a rising politician is murdered at a country house party, we see a world where Britain signed a treaty with Hitler, and the government heads toward a dictatorship.
The story alternates between two
Both of these voices were delightful, full of moral ambiguity and depth. I was only sorry the story ended so abruptly, and I am keen to read the next book.
The story alternates between two
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points of view: Lucy, a young aristocrat who has scandalised everyone by marrying a Jewish man, and Carmichael, an Inspector from Scotland yard with a personal secret. Both of these voices were delightful, full of moral ambiguity and depth. I was only sorry the story ended so abruptly, and I am keen to read the next book.
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LibraryThing member raschneid
I wasn't a huge fan of this one. A mediocre book by what I'm willing to believe is a pretty good author. I enjoyed the prose and some of the characters. However....
Alternate history should evoke wonder or horror, but I found the worldbuilding dull here. The premise itself seems unbelievable -
It just isn't, though. Alternate Britain in 1949 feels exactly like actual Britain in 1939. Pro-fascism and anti-Semitism are rampant, people feel uncomfortable having capitulated to Hitler but don't like the alternative of war, and everyone goes on living their lives. This is a trilogy, so Walton has two more books to enthrall and horrify us, but she doesn't do nearly enough in this first volume to make us invested in the world she's created. I'd honestly rather just reread The Remains of the Day.
This book is a mystery novel as well as an alternate history. The mystery drives the narrative, but is unfortunately a big mess. The first half is beautifully set up with interesting character conflicts, puzzling clues, and lots of potential suspects. The second half serves up a convoluted reveal that hinges on an unbelievable conspiracy and never fully explains the mechanism by which the murder was committed. Talk about breaking promises to your reader!
I may have a personal axe to grind here, as I detest conspiracy theories in fiction and in reality. I had to read Holy Blood, Holy Grail in college for an Arthurian Literature class and I've never fully recovered. People in power will lie, cheat, mislead, and seize on random events to further their goals (remember the Maine!) but they do not generally execute convoluted schemes. Politicians aren't supervillains. So I found this book's conclusion unrealistic.
On a final, unrelated note, this book was a good example of how to deal with GLBTQ themes poorly. It could have been much worse - I really appreciated that being gay or lesbian in this book did not consign you to being a miserable, untrusting malcontent, as certain storytellers of historical fiction *cough*JulianFellowes*cough* would like us to believe.
Unfortunately, Walton goes in the opposite direction and decides that portraying gay characters positively means using anachronistic language and concepts. One character has invented her own personal Kinsey scale, another actually uses the phrase "sexual orientation" (WHUT). The ideas about sexuality that would have defined gay and lesbian culture in 1940s Britain are nowhere evident. Also, everyone in this book has MYSTERIOUSLY ACCURATE gaydar, but that's perhaps its own problem.
Having torn this book to shreds, I would actually give Jo Walton a try again. I just won't read any more of her historical fiction.
Alternate history should evoke wonder or horror, but I found the worldbuilding dull here. The premise itself seems unbelievable -
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Hitler makes peace with Britain in 1941... and continues fighting the Russians for the next eight years. The U.S. and Japan never enter armed conflict for mysterious reasons. But whatever, it would all be worth it if the resulting world was interesting.It just isn't, though. Alternate Britain in 1949 feels exactly like actual Britain in 1939. Pro-fascism and anti-Semitism are rampant, people feel uncomfortable having capitulated to Hitler but don't like the alternative of war, and everyone goes on living their lives. This is a trilogy, so Walton has two more books to enthrall and horrify us, but she doesn't do nearly enough in this first volume to make us invested in the world she's created. I'd honestly rather just reread The Remains of the Day.
This book is a mystery novel as well as an alternate history. The mystery drives the narrative, but is unfortunately a big mess. The first half is beautifully set up with interesting character conflicts, puzzling clues, and lots of potential suspects. The second half serves up a convoluted reveal that hinges on an unbelievable conspiracy and never fully explains the mechanism by which the murder was committed. Talk about breaking promises to your reader!
I may have a personal axe to grind here, as I detest conspiracy theories in fiction and in reality. I had to read Holy Blood, Holy Grail in college for an Arthurian Literature class and I've never fully recovered. People in power will lie, cheat, mislead, and seize on random events to further their goals (remember the Maine!) but they do not generally execute convoluted schemes. Politicians aren't supervillains. So I found this book's conclusion unrealistic.
On a final, unrelated note, this book was a good example of how to deal with GLBTQ themes poorly. It could have been much worse - I really appreciated that being gay or lesbian in this book did not consign you to being a miserable, untrusting malcontent, as certain storytellers of historical fiction *cough*JulianFellowes*cough* would like us to believe.
Unfortunately, Walton goes in the opposite direction and decides that portraying gay characters positively means using anachronistic language and concepts. One character has invented her own personal Kinsey scale, another actually uses the phrase "sexual orientation" (WHUT). The ideas about sexuality that would have defined gay and lesbian culture in 1940s Britain are nowhere evident. Also, everyone in this book has MYSTERIOUSLY ACCURATE gaydar, but that's perhaps its own problem.
Having torn this book to shreds, I would actually give Jo Walton a try again. I just won't read any more of her historical fiction.
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LibraryThing member avisannschild
Farthing is set in an alternate history in which the Allies didn’t win World War 2, Britain has “made peace” with Hitler, and Lindbergh is president of the United States. For the first half of the book, I felt slightly perplexed as the whole thing reads just like a traditional country house
A slightly different version of this review can be found on my blog, she reads and reads.
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whodunit. Although the story is intriguing, the characters well-drawn and I enjoyed the alternating points of view of the inspector who is investigating the murder and Lucy Kahn, the daughter of the house who has fallen out of favour by marrying a Jew, what was the point of the alternate setting? It turns out I was being impatient because the second half of the book suddenly veers sharply to the right and the results are chilling in their implications. The book definitely lives up to its dedication (to “everyone who has ever studied any monstrosity of history, with the serene satisfaction of being horrified while knowing exactly what was going to happen, rather like studying a dragon anatomized upon a table, and then turning around to find the dragon’s present-day relations standing close by, alive and ready to bite”); however, the ending does feel like a set-up for the next two books in the Small Change series. Regardless, I highly recommend it and am looking forward to reading the next two instalments.A slightly different version of this review can be found on my blog, she reads and reads.
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LibraryThing member cbl_tn
In 1949 in an alternate England, Hitler is in control of all of western Europe. After the Battle of Britain, Churchill was overthrown and England made peace with Hitler, largely due to the efforts of the “Farthing Set.” Newlywed Lucy is the daughter of prominent members of the Farthing Set. She
In Farthing, Jo Walton gives readers an alternate form of the Golden Age mystery – my favorite genre. I loved the points of similarity, but I found the differences unsettling. I find it satisfying to read about the righting of wrongs and the triumph of justice in Golden Age mysteries. It provides an escape from real life, when all too often crimes go unsolved or the guilty go free on technicalities. In this way the alternate history of Farthing is more like the real world than the world of the Golden Age mystery.
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married her Jewish husband, David, against her parents' wishes. Although England isn't under Hitler's control, antisemitism is on the rise. Lucy and David are surprised to receive an invitation to her parents' weekend house party. Things turn ugly when one of the guests is discovered dead in his room on Sunday morning. When clues turn up pointing to David as the killer, Lucy is certain that he's being framed for murder. So is the Scotland Yard detective assigned to the case. With pressure mounting for David's arrest and quick closure of the investigation, to what length will Lucy go to protect her husband?In Farthing, Jo Walton gives readers an alternate form of the Golden Age mystery – my favorite genre. I loved the points of similarity, but I found the differences unsettling. I find it satisfying to read about the righting of wrongs and the triumph of justice in Golden Age mysteries. It provides an escape from real life, when all too often crimes go unsolved or the guilty go free on technicalities. In this way the alternate history of Farthing is more like the real world than the world of the Golden Age mystery.
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LibraryThing member mmSeason
A cosy 1940s country-house murder mystery. A fascist witch-hunt. Here is an alternative 1949 in which Britain accepted Hess’s peace offer eight years earlier and now shakes hands with Hitler’s Reich – which with all its inhumanity extends across Europe right to the Channel.
Such scope for an
It’s not chilling on every page. The sun shines and tea is served on the lawn. People love as well as hate and life, the everyday world, is normal (as far as I can tell, having never lived in either the landed gentry or the 1940s). While some characters are repulsive, those the reader spends most time with are endearing.
As a depiction of mid-Twentieth Century England it is vivid; as a collection of character studies it is subtle and lucid. As a study of sinister political philosophy, human fallibility, and ethical ambiguity, it is profound and disturbing. Yet as an old-fashioned detective story, it’s fun. It doesn’t even flag in the middle as so many stories do.
I’m left with my thoughts thoroughly provoked and missing the heroine badly. Time to get hold of the sequels, Ha’penny and Half a Crown.
Such scope for an
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examination of hypocrisy both in individuals and on a mass level. Between attitudes to Jews and Reds the characters drop harsh comments about homosexuality and fail even to notice assumptions about class and wealth.It’s not chilling on every page. The sun shines and tea is served on the lawn. People love as well as hate and life, the everyday world, is normal (as far as I can tell, having never lived in either the landed gentry or the 1940s). While some characters are repulsive, those the reader spends most time with are endearing.
As a depiction of mid-Twentieth Century England it is vivid; as a collection of character studies it is subtle and lucid. As a study of sinister political philosophy, human fallibility, and ethical ambiguity, it is profound and disturbing. Yet as an old-fashioned detective story, it’s fun. It doesn’t even flag in the middle as so many stories do.
I’m left with my thoughts thoroughly provoked and missing the heroine badly. Time to get hold of the sequels, Ha’penny and Half a Crown.
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LibraryThing member tcgardner
World War II is over. Or, it never happened. Hitler took over Europe. Britain took Hitler's offer of peace. The US never entered the war and Hitler was able to turn his full attention to Stalin. The oppression and persecution of Jews and other minorities became standard throughout Europe.
This is
Lucy Eversley Kahn has done the unthinkable. A debutante of the Farthing Set has gone and married a Jew.
One summer weekend, Lucy and her husband David are invited to her ancestral home, Farthing Manor. That weekend, one of the set is murdered and it looks like a Jew did the deed. Everything points to the only Jew around. Everyone knows the Jew, David, did it.
This is a study of bigotry, pride, prejudice, hatred, and human frailty wrapped up in a murder mystery. Many questions are asked. Why do we hate? Why are we afraid of that which we do not understand? If it can happen to the other guy, what can I do to make sure it does not happen to me? That last question is easy to answer. Not one darn thing.
A frightening what if. Also frightening in that it could still happen oh so quickly now.
A great read. I heartily recommend.
This is
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the setting for Farthing by Jo Walton. Peace was gained by a aristocratic anti-Jewish group of Britains, the Farthing Set. And now the final prize is at hand. Prime Minister for one of the set.Lucy Eversley Kahn has done the unthinkable. A debutante of the Farthing Set has gone and married a Jew.
One summer weekend, Lucy and her husband David are invited to her ancestral home, Farthing Manor. That weekend, one of the set is murdered and it looks like a Jew did the deed. Everything points to the only Jew around. Everyone knows the Jew, David, did it.
This is a study of bigotry, pride, prejudice, hatred, and human frailty wrapped up in a murder mystery. Many questions are asked. Why do we hate? Why are we afraid of that which we do not understand? If it can happen to the other guy, what can I do to make sure it does not happen to me? That last question is easy to answer. Not one darn thing.
A frightening what if. Also frightening in that it could still happen oh so quickly now.
A great read. I heartily recommend.
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Set in 1949 after Hess negotiated a truce between Hitler and England fachism is growing in England and a typical gathering of power brokers is happening in Farthing, a country estate with a daughter who has caused ripples by marrying a Jew. When the main negotiator Sir James Thirkie is murdered
It reads something like a 1930's-1940's detective novel but with some changes that make it different and compelling. I liked the characters and their motivations were understandable.
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with a yellow star pinned to his chest the easy suspect is Lucy's husband. The investigation alternates between Lucy and Inspector Peter Carmichael of Scotland Yard and it doesn't follow the easy route but leaves openings for sequels which I look forward to.It reads something like a 1930's-1940's detective novel but with some changes that make it different and compelling. I liked the characters and their motivations were understandable.
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LibraryThing member doomcomplex
This is dystopian, alternate-history novel rivals Orwell's "1984" in scope and beats it in readability. One of the better books I've read in a while.
LibraryThing member lquilter
This work of alternate history was genius in its conception – cozy mystery crossed with fascist England alternate history and political intrigue.
The only thing I really would have changed would be the pregnancy scene, because I just hate that mystical "I'm pregnant at the moment we're having sex"
The only thing I really would have changed would be the pregnancy scene, because I just hate that mystical "I'm pregnant at the moment we're having sex"
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schtick. It doesn't actually happen like that! And I wouldn't mind it as much if it were just supposed to be in someone's head, but the timing of the scene led one to believe that for sure it was real. Argh! Okay, it's a minor point, but it sticks in my craw a few years after reading the book. Which you should do, because it's a great book. Show Less
LibraryThing member Matke
This is quite an amazing book, combining the classic mystery genre with an alternative history. The scene is Britain in 1949; the British are at peace, having signed a "Peace with Honor" treaty with the Reich after the Battle of Britain, ending their participation in what is now called by most
We've all read mysteries from the Golden Age with the very casual racial epithets and the ever-present anti-semitism. Many readers are able to at least be a bit charitable about it all, because we know the outcome of WW 2. But this book puts us right on our uppers, where we belong: prejudice is wrong, no matter how cosy the ambience is. Walton manages to create a quietly chilling, indeed sickening, picture of what could have happened. She also shows how the aristocracy might have continued as the incredibly entrenched rulers, with no input from the ordinary folks.
It helps if the reader has a working knowledge of Nazi Germany and its history, at least in outline.
Highly recommended.
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Brits The Jewish War. The fascists are slowly but steadily taking over, and the prejudice against Jews and anyone "different" is rampant.We've all read mysteries from the Golden Age with the very casual racial epithets and the ever-present anti-semitism. Many readers are able to at least be a bit charitable about it all, because we know the outcome of WW 2. But this book puts us right on our uppers, where we belong: prejudice is wrong, no matter how cosy the ambience is. Walton manages to create a quietly chilling, indeed sickening, picture of what could have happened. She also shows how the aristocracy might have continued as the incredibly entrenched rulers, with no input from the ordinary folks.
It helps if the reader has a working knowledge of Nazi Germany and its history, at least in outline.
Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member AKBouterse
I really loved this book. It does such a good job of showing an England that is not as strongly anti-Hitler, is deeply antisemitic, and has fascist impulses. This book has aged very well. It is a tale that has become that much scarier given the current political situation of countries moving
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further and further to the right in places like the UK and the USA, where I live. The murder mystery element to this book is also very well done. It does not feel separate from the political but another piece of that puzzle and it also serves as a way to see how this England is different from our own. I like that this book is not super explicit about the changes that make this an alternate history novel and that the reader has to pick up on the changes through the context of the story. I really liked our two main characters, Lucy and Carmichael. They felt very fleshed out and extremely realistic. I was especially drawn to Carmichael as I found his struggle to keep up his morals while protecting himself and his loved ones to be very interesting. I have a lot of books I own that I need to read so it will probably be a little while before I pick up the next book in this series but I am definitely very interested to see what happens next in this world. Show Less
LibraryThing member Stewartry
This was a very odd book. I enjoyed most of it, but it was very odd. It took a bit of mental calisthenics to adapt to a 1949 London in which "Old Adolph admired England and had no territorial ambitions across the channel". Because this world's Old Adolph most certainly had all sorts of ambitions
Rather than that straight-forward and outright horror, the horror in this book is … sneakier.
"In May of 1941, the war looked dark for Britain. We and our Empire stood alone, entirely without allies. The Luftwaffe and the RAF were fighting their deadly duel above our heads. Our allies France, Belgium, Holland, Poland, and Denmark had been utterly conquered. Our ventures to defy the Reich in Norway and Greece had come to nothing, The USSR was allied to the Reich, and the increasingly isolationist USA was sending us only grudging aid. We feared and prepared for invasion. In this dark time, the Fuhrer extended a tentative offer to us. Hess flew to Britain with a tentative offer of peace, each side to keep what they had. Churchill refused to consider it, but wiser heads prevailed…"
Wiser heads prevailed, and those damned isolationists in the US held sway, and Britain made a peace with Hitler, and now most if not all of Europe is under a blanket of fascism. Being Jewish is a very, very difficult thing, when it isn't outright life-threatening, wherever you are. And Orwell imagines his dystopia happening ten years earlier than in this world. (That is a lovely subtle touch.) And the United States is led by President Lindbergh – which … Heaven forbid.
And it is in this universe that Lucy and her Jewish husband David return to her family's estate for a house party, during which there is a good old-fashioned country house murder.
There were things I did not like; Lucy uses a verbal shorthand she had developed, but the reader is not clued into exactly what she's talking about until what seemed like a ridiculous ways in. (Page 96 – looked it up. So a third of the way through the book.) It's pretty clear through context what she means by "Athenian" and "Macedonian" and so on – but not totally clear, and a little baffling as to WHY she would be saying "Athenian" and "Macedonian" and so on.
I never warmed up to most of the characters. Heaven knows Lucy's family didn't deserve warming up to…they are snobs of the first water.
"How many servants do you get by with?"
"Just three," David said. "A cook, a housemaid, and a kitchen maid. …"
"You dress yourselves??"
- Goodness me. And here I thought that was something one was taught to do as a toddler.
And Lucy – one of the two point of view characters – began to grate on me. She says, often, that she isn't too bright, though the plan she comes up with is not terrible … but her speech and behavior thoroughly agrees with the "not too bright". Is it all a front? Does she really think she's stupid (perhaps because her mother has taught her so) when she's not so dumb after all? Who knows? She is rather flighty, and certainly fanciful: to avoid spoilers, I'll just say that she develops an unshakeable certainty of something about which she couldn't possibly have a clue, and proceeds from that first moment of certainty as if what she believes is rock solid truth. Is it? Who knows?
Speaking of servants … Things are a bit odd with them in the country house where the good old country house murder takes place. I mean … they're servants, when all's said and done, employees hired and paid to do specific jobs, in a class structure which requires them to show respect to their social "betters". But here the attitudes are extraordinary – and Mrs. Simons, the housekeeper, is outright offensive. Blatantly, intentionally, viciously rude. Lucy: "I didn't like how quickly I'd resorted to threatening to sack her" – WHY? My God, are you mad? Fire that nasty cow and eject her so hard and fast she bounces twice going down the drive.
The book alternates viewpoints between Lucy, on the scene of the murder, and Inspector Carmichael, in charge of investigating said murder. And it's all rather repetitive – not even just because of dual points of view, which is handled fairly well. "He might have committed suicide." "Why would he kill himself?" then a little while later "He might have killed himself." "Why would he commit suicide?" This happens over and over.
I gave this four stars to start with, but – after some time has passed, and having listened to the ensuing two books, and just looking at the notes I made while listening to this one – I bumped it down to three. Because on the whole I really, really hated this series – and, honestly, with the level of exasperation in what I wrote at the time I'm a little shocked that I did rate it higher.
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across the channel; he was drooling to get into London and execute the entire royal family. Rather than that straight-forward and outright horror, the horror in this book is … sneakier.
"In May of 1941, the war looked dark for Britain. We and our Empire stood alone, entirely without allies. The Luftwaffe and the RAF were fighting their deadly duel above our heads. Our allies France, Belgium, Holland, Poland, and Denmark had been utterly conquered. Our ventures to defy the Reich in Norway and Greece had come to nothing, The USSR was allied to the Reich, and the increasingly isolationist USA was sending us only grudging aid. We feared and prepared for invasion. In this dark time, the Fuhrer extended a tentative offer to us. Hess flew to Britain with a tentative offer of peace, each side to keep what they had. Churchill refused to consider it, but wiser heads prevailed…"
Wiser heads prevailed, and those damned isolationists in the US held sway, and Britain made a peace with Hitler, and now most if not all of Europe is under a blanket of fascism. Being Jewish is a very, very difficult thing, when it isn't outright life-threatening, wherever you are. And Orwell imagines his dystopia happening ten years earlier than in this world. (That is a lovely subtle touch.) And the United States is led by President Lindbergh – which … Heaven forbid.
And it is in this universe that Lucy and her Jewish husband David return to her family's estate for a house party, during which there is a good old-fashioned country house murder.
There were things I did not like; Lucy uses a verbal shorthand she had developed, but the reader is not clued into exactly what she's talking about until what seemed like a ridiculous ways in. (Page 96 – looked it up. So a third of the way through the book.) It's pretty clear through context what she means by "Athenian" and "Macedonian" and so on – but not totally clear, and a little baffling as to WHY she would be saying "Athenian" and "Macedonian" and so on.
I never warmed up to most of the characters. Heaven knows Lucy's family didn't deserve warming up to…they are snobs of the first water.
"How many servants do you get by with?"
"Just three," David said. "A cook, a housemaid, and a kitchen maid. …"
"You dress yourselves??"
- Goodness me. And here I thought that was something one was taught to do as a toddler.
And Lucy – one of the two point of view characters – began to grate on me. She says, often, that she isn't too bright, though the plan she comes up with is not terrible … but her speech and behavior thoroughly agrees with the "not too bright". Is it all a front? Does she really think she's stupid (perhaps because her mother has taught her so) when she's not so dumb after all? Who knows? She is rather flighty, and certainly fanciful: to avoid spoilers, I'll just say that she develops an unshakeable certainty of something about which she couldn't possibly have a clue, and proceeds from that first moment of certainty as if what she believes is rock solid truth. Is it? Who knows?
Speaking of servants … Things are a bit odd with them in the country house where the good old country house murder takes place. I mean … they're servants, when all's said and done, employees hired and paid to do specific jobs, in a class structure which requires them to show respect to their social "betters". But here the attitudes are extraordinary – and Mrs. Simons, the housekeeper, is outright offensive. Blatantly, intentionally, viciously rude. Lucy: "I didn't like how quickly I'd resorted to threatening to sack her" – WHY? My God, are you mad? Fire that nasty cow and eject her so hard and fast she bounces twice going down the drive.
The book alternates viewpoints between Lucy, on the scene of the murder, and Inspector Carmichael, in charge of investigating said murder. And it's all rather repetitive – not even just because of dual points of view, which is handled fairly well. "He might have committed suicide." "Why would he kill himself?" then a little while later "He might have killed himself." "Why would he commit suicide?" This happens over and over.
I gave this four stars to start with, but – after some time has passed, and having listened to the ensuing two books, and just looking at the notes I made while listening to this one – I bumped it down to three. Because on the whole I really, really hated this series – and, honestly, with the level of exasperation in what I wrote at the time I'm a little shocked that I did rate it higher.
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LibraryThing member SandDune
I selected this one on the grounds that I'd loved the two previous Jo Walton books that I'd read, Among Others and Tooth and Claw, so when I was looking for a book that would really draw me in Jo Walton seemed an obvious choice. But unfortunately, while this was a good enough read it didn't grab my
In the 1940's Lucy Kahn is attending a weekend house party at her ancestral home, Farthings Castle, together with her husband David. Lucy had married the son of a Jewish banker, much to the disapproval of her aristocratic family, and her husband is tolerated at best. And when a fellow guest, Sir James Fairlie, is found murdered with indications that the murderer might have been Jewish, suspicion immediately falls on David Kahn. For in this version of the 1940's Britain made peace with Hitler's Germany in 1941, and Sir James Fairlie was the man who made it happen, as well as being part of a government which is making anti-semitism more and more acceptable. But Inspector Carmichael, drafted in from Scotland Yard, starts to think that the obvious solution is just a little too simple ...
I have three main problems with this book. The first is that it is a clear reworking of the country house mystery genre, which is one that I have never read or really been attracted to. The second, which I can't really elaborate on without going into spoilers, is that the reason finally identified for the murder seems altogether implausible and (to me at least) a hugely unlikely way for anyone to go about achieving its stated aim.
But my third and main problem is that I don't really believe in the alternative world that has been created. It might be the view of Britain that you could believe in from reading nothing but the country house mysteries mentioned above, a world of the aristocracy and the upper middle classes, a place where the poorer classes are represented only as servants and villains, but even before the Second World War this was a society on the way out. And in this novel it is key to the plot that the Farthings Set, an aristocratic political grouping with distinctly fascist leanings, are leading a popular government despite having the sort of policies which seem designed to completely disempower the working classes. And it's here that my major problems start as I just can't imagine any government of the time getting away with the sort of policies that the Farthing set seem to be enacting quite easily, without there being major political and social insurrection (riots, general strikes, marches, you get the idea). While I can imagine certain members of the aristocracy wanting to do it, I just can't imagine them actually being able to do it without meaningful opposition. The government has apparently been voted in in 'gratitude' for the peace that the Farthing Set brokered, but I'm not a great believer in gratitude when it comes to politics. After all Churchill was widely credited by the British people with winning the Second World War but it didn't stop him being thrown out on his ear when it came to the election in 1945!
So complaints over, this is still a decent read that's well worth giving a go. And I will certainly be trying the next one in the series. But it certainly doesn't live up to her other work in my opinion.
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attention as much as those other books have done. There are a number of reasons for this, and I'm probably going to spend most of this review explaining why I didn't love what is in essence a decent book, which is probably a little unfair...In the 1940's Lucy Kahn is attending a weekend house party at her ancestral home, Farthings Castle, together with her husband David. Lucy had married the son of a Jewish banker, much to the disapproval of her aristocratic family, and her husband is tolerated at best. And when a fellow guest, Sir James Fairlie, is found murdered with indications that the murderer might have been Jewish, suspicion immediately falls on David Kahn. For in this version of the 1940's Britain made peace with Hitler's Germany in 1941, and Sir James Fairlie was the man who made it happen, as well as being part of a government which is making anti-semitism more and more acceptable. But Inspector Carmichael, drafted in from Scotland Yard, starts to think that the obvious solution is just a little too simple ...
I have three main problems with this book. The first is that it is a clear reworking of the country house mystery genre, which is one that I have never read or really been attracted to. The second, which I can't really elaborate on without going into spoilers, is that the reason finally identified for the murder seems altogether implausible and (to me at least) a hugely unlikely way for anyone to go about achieving its stated aim.
But my third and main problem is that I don't really believe in the alternative world that has been created. It might be the view of Britain that you could believe in from reading nothing but the country house mysteries mentioned above, a world of the aristocracy and the upper middle classes, a place where the poorer classes are represented only as servants and villains, but even before the Second World War this was a society on the way out. And in this novel it is key to the plot that the Farthings Set, an aristocratic political grouping with distinctly fascist leanings, are leading a popular government despite having the sort of policies which seem designed to completely disempower the working classes. And it's here that my major problems start as I just can't imagine any government of the time getting away with the sort of policies that the Farthing set seem to be enacting quite easily, without there being major political and social insurrection (riots, general strikes, marches, you get the idea). While I can imagine certain members of the aristocracy wanting to do it, I just can't imagine them actually being able to do it without meaningful opposition. The government has apparently been voted in in 'gratitude' for the peace that the Farthing Set brokered, but I'm not a great believer in gratitude when it comes to politics. After all Churchill was widely credited by the British people with winning the Second World War but it didn't stop him being thrown out on his ear when it came to the election in 1945!
So complaints over, this is still a decent read that's well worth giving a go. And I will certainly be trying the next one in the series. But it certainly doesn't live up to her other work in my opinion.
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LibraryThing member lycomayflower
Farthing posits an alternate history in which Britain negotiates a "Peace with Honour" with Hitler in 1941. By 1949 when the novel takes place, Hitler had overrun Europe, Nazi death camps still operate, the US (where Lindbergh is president) had closed its borders, and antisemitism runs rampant in
While I enjoyed Farthing a lot (it's written just wonderfully, and Walton handles her characters, setting, and plot deftly), the book did feel a bit uneven. It eventually becomes clear that things are even a lot worse than they appear in this version of Britain, and the book goes from interestingly sinister to downright chilling in the last few chapters. That move was appropriate, and, indeed, it felt the like the book was building toward it all along. But the transition still seemed a little rushed, and the novel ultimately felt not wholly in balance because of it. I'm also still puzzling over Walton's choice to make so many of her characters here secretly gay. Of the major players (easily a dozen), at least five turn out to be Also Gay, by which I mean they are introduced as having a certain bearing on the story (such as being a major figure in the politics of Britain) and then a while later we find out that they are also gay (or bi) (with the fact of their sexuality rarely having anything to do with the plot). I am always happy to see people who historically have often been elided from fiction better represented on the page, but the way Walton kept sliding this fact in about many of her characters led me to suspect that the fact of their sexuality was going be become very important either thematically or in the plot. And it never did. Curious. Perhaps it will become clear in the second book in the series, which I am excited to read.
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Britain. The story is told from the point of view of Lucy Kahn, the daughter of a powerful aristocratic family with whom she has fallen out of favor because of her recent marriage to a Jewish banker, and from the point of view of a Scotland Yard detective who is called to Lucy's family's estate to investigate the murder of a political heavy-weight who was staying there for the weekend. The novel works much like a cozy murder mystery, with investigations into the murder forming the backbone of the story. And that format makes this history even more sinister than it already seems at first glance. Because so much of the story reads like a gentle murder story in which nothing too terribly awful will happen, the little details of the way the world works in the alternate history are all the more sharp and shocking and terrifying.While I enjoyed Farthing a lot (it's written just wonderfully, and Walton handles her characters, setting, and plot deftly), the book did feel a bit uneven. It eventually becomes clear that things are even a lot worse than they appear in this version of Britain, and the book goes from interestingly sinister to downright chilling in the last few chapters. That move was appropriate, and, indeed, it felt the like the book was building toward it all along. But the transition still seemed a little rushed, and the novel ultimately felt not wholly in balance because of it. I'm also still puzzling over Walton's choice to make so many of her characters here secretly gay. Of the major players (easily a dozen), at least five turn out to be Also Gay, by which I mean they are introduced as having a certain bearing on the story (such as being a major figure in the politics of Britain) and then a while later we find out that they are also gay (or bi) (with the fact of their sexuality rarely having anything to do with the plot). I am always happy to see people who historically have often been elided from fiction better represented on the page, but the way Walton kept sliding this fact in about many of her characters led me to suspect that the fact of their sexuality was going be become very important either thematically or in the plot. And it never did. Curious. Perhaps it will become clear in the second book in the series, which I am excited to read.
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LibraryThing member RubyScarlett
This was a book I didn't expect - I read alternate histories (Scott Westerfeld's excellent Leviathan series comes to mind) but it usually has a fantasy setting, which turns everything into a curiosity and a great part of my enjoyment comes from discovering what's new in the world in terms of
This was a really engrossing read and I couldn't put this book down even to cook. I'm really happy I found this author.
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objects and setting. Though Jo Walton has written fantasy (Tooth and Claw is the first in a series I have yet to read), Farthing is very much a country house cosy mystery for 90% of the plot and that, to me, is an entirely new approach and an immediate draw. I'm a huge fan of golden age detection fiction (think Dorothy L Sayers, Josephine Tey, Agatha Christie) and that's how the book lured me in. It's an impeccable mystery with engaging characters, solid writing and an excellent sense of the period. However, Farthing is very much a book in its own, regardless of what inspired it, and for me that's due to three things: first, the absolutely gorgeous two main characters - Inspector Carmichael and Lucy Khan, who share the point of view of the book in alternating chapters , then, the incredible scope of the novel and the way we learn about the world it's set in - while we are given enough to work with concerning what a world with Nazi Germany looks like, we are still very much in the dark due to the two main characters not being much interested in politics themselves - and finally, the relationships. Lucy and David's relationship is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen described and it's quite rare to see a marriage depicted with that much intimacy and detail without verging on sentimentality. The novel also includes a lot of realistic family interactions and musings along with a very interesting exploration of what homosexuality means to different characters throughout. I will say though that there is quite a good amount of antisemitism depicted and though it's entirely condemned by the main characters and the authorial voice, it's still something any reader should be warned about beforehand. I'm really eager to see what comes next - the book is very much open-ended and alludes to a completely different sequel and I can't wait to see what will happen and I'm really looking forward to the author slowly revealing more about this alternate world. This was a really engrossing read and I couldn't put this book down even to cook. I'm really happy I found this author.
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LibraryThing member cmc
Farthing is well-written and quite involving, but, ultimately, ends the way all too many stories end—with those in power retaining, or even multiplying, their power.
In a library where books were shelved by their relationships to other books, Farthing would find itself nearby Ishiguro’s Never
In a library where books were shelved by their relationships to other books, Farthing would find itself nearby Ishiguro’s Never
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Let Me Go, Orwell’s 1984, and Banks’s Against a Dark Background—everything changed, everything is still the same, and some characters maybe aren’t so lucky as to have escaped with their lives. Show Less
LibraryThing member delphica
This feels like the kind of book that I'm not really going to know how much I like it until I read the entire series, which is like the sad, sad, story of my life these days.
The style is that of a 1950s murder mystery in an English manor house, the twist is that it takes place in an alternate
It should come as a spoiler to nobody that one of the key goals of this book is to show how wrong a Hitler compromise scenario would have been. It was impressive to me that this is rather obvious from the get-go, but the author still convinces the reader that it is even more insidious when you actually go through the thought exercise of looking at underlying antisemitism and homophobia just creeping along.
It was also amusing to me how I have grown so used to this genre of English mystery that when it goes in a different direction, I was offended on some level, like a "hey, this is NOT the way it works" reaction, which I suppose goes hand and hand with Nazis.
I had a few points where the book wasn't quite working for me -- the wacky mechanics of the murder were too wacky; the wide-eyed Mitford-esque family slang was a little too forced; I kept waiting for other qualities deemed undesirable by the Nazis to come into the story; there is a running thing about tea that I didn't get at all, and I don't know whether it's because I'm not smart enough, or not English; a mention of a "Guy Philby" threw me, is that a Cambridge Four/Five reference? -- but I'm mostly curious to see if any of those quibbles get taken up in the following books.
The style is that of a 1950s murder mystery in an English manor house, the twist is that it takes place in an alternate
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history in which the UK came to a peace agreement with Nazi Germany, so England is doing rather well, the US never entered the war, and Hitler is living large having conquered Europe. It should come as a spoiler to nobody that one of the key goals of this book is to show how wrong a Hitler compromise scenario would have been. It was impressive to me that this is rather obvious from the get-go, but the author still convinces the reader that it is even more insidious when you actually go through the thought exercise of looking at underlying antisemitism and homophobia just creeping along.
It was also amusing to me how I have grown so used to this genre of English mystery that when it goes in a different direction, I was offended on some level, like a "hey, this is NOT the way it works" reaction, which I suppose goes hand and hand with Nazis.
I had a few points where the book wasn't quite working for me -- the wacky mechanics of the murder were too wacky; the wide-eyed Mitford-esque family slang was a little too forced; I kept waiting for other qualities deemed undesirable by the Nazis to come into the story; there is a running thing about tea that I didn't get at all, and I don't know whether it's because I'm not smart enough, or not English; a mention of a "Guy Philby" threw me, is that a Cambridge Four/Five reference? -- but I'm mostly curious to see if any of those quibbles get taken up in the following books.
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LibraryThing member bunwat
I can't begin to tell you how much I love this book. But I will try. On the surface, this is a murder mystery, in the style of a classic of the golden age of british detective stories. Think, Josephine Tey, Margery Allingham, Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie. Its got all the elements, the movers and
Except we don't. Because this isn't our England of the 1940's. Walton gradually opens our eyes to the fact that this is an England in which Hitler was not defeated, this is an England that ended the Battle of Britain by reaching an accommodation with the Third Reich, and this is an England that is slowly, reluctantly, but none the less it seems inevitably, following Continental Europe into fascism. In the process, at least for me, she pulls of the neat trick of making me see something I've known for a very long time with new eyes.
Because I thoroughly enjoy those golden age detective stories. I have great fondness for them despite the very obvious evidences that they were written in a time and place where classism and racism and anti semitism and other forms of bigotry were less challenged and closer to acceptable than they are now. I've had disputes with GR friends about this, when they can't get past it and I can.
What this book helped me to understand, beautifully, subtly without banging me over the head with it it - is that I forgive that stuff because I know what happened next. I know that England came to its "two roads that met in a wood" and took the other path. But of course OF COURSE, nobody in the 1940's knew that was going to happen. At the time that those books I enjoy so much were written those questions were not decided, not by a long shot. During the war and even after it, there were many opportunities, manyt roads not taken that could have lead to a much darker place.
The alternate history Walton puts before us is not in the least unlikely, in fact there's a certain terrifying "for want of a horseshoe nail," quality to just how very plausible it is. And so this alternate history pulls off the wonderful trick of making me remember the real history of that time and place without the comfortable insulating qualities of hindsight. It makes me connect emotionally to something I knew only intellectually, how desperate and how close fought the ideological war was in those decades, and how much courage against all odds was needed by those who prevented this imagined future from being the one we inherited.
Moreover she does this, she evokes these large matters and sets them before us, while staying entirely within the tradition of the form she has chosen, that of the country house mystery. She doesn't give us the sweep of troops across Europe and the skies filled with fighter planes. Instead, like Josephine Tey, she shows us great moral battles being fought at the dining table, or on a walk in the home wood. In the betrayals between parents and children, in contempt arising between husbands and wives, in the failures of courage or the temptations of ambition that are first and most clearly seen in the private interactions of people who know one another well.
So even though she uses the traditions of the golden age detective story to tell quite a different tale, she does so with a respect for the form. She understands that at their best those novels were capable of a kind of subtle insight that could show you great matters in small and she uses the form to do precisely what it does best. Oh how I love this book.
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shakers gathered for a country weekend at someone's ducal seat, the loyal servants, the daughter of the house whose scatty mannerisms conceal a sharp mind, the suspect son in law who isn't quite "one of us." There's the clever police detective who isn't a member of the club either but who is well read and thoughtful for all of that, and his slightly bumbling but full of commonsense sidekick, the higher ups at Scotland Yard under pressure from the Home Secretary. Oh yeah, we know this place and the conventions thereof.Except we don't. Because this isn't our England of the 1940's. Walton gradually opens our eyes to the fact that this is an England in which Hitler was not defeated, this is an England that ended the Battle of Britain by reaching an accommodation with the Third Reich, and this is an England that is slowly, reluctantly, but none the less it seems inevitably, following Continental Europe into fascism. In the process, at least for me, she pulls of the neat trick of making me see something I've known for a very long time with new eyes.
Because I thoroughly enjoy those golden age detective stories. I have great fondness for them despite the very obvious evidences that they were written in a time and place where classism and racism and anti semitism and other forms of bigotry were less challenged and closer to acceptable than they are now. I've had disputes with GR friends about this, when they can't get past it and I can.
What this book helped me to understand, beautifully, subtly without banging me over the head with it it - is that I forgive that stuff because I know what happened next. I know that England came to its "two roads that met in a wood" and took the other path. But of course OF COURSE, nobody in the 1940's knew that was going to happen. At the time that those books I enjoy so much were written those questions were not decided, not by a long shot. During the war and even after it, there were many opportunities, manyt roads not taken that could have lead to a much darker place.
The alternate history Walton puts before us is not in the least unlikely, in fact there's a certain terrifying "for want of a horseshoe nail," quality to just how very plausible it is. And so this alternate history pulls off the wonderful trick of making me remember the real history of that time and place without the comfortable insulating qualities of hindsight. It makes me connect emotionally to something I knew only intellectually, how desperate and how close fought the ideological war was in those decades, and how much courage against all odds was needed by those who prevented this imagined future from being the one we inherited.
Moreover she does this, she evokes these large matters and sets them before us, while staying entirely within the tradition of the form she has chosen, that of the country house mystery. She doesn't give us the sweep of troops across Europe and the skies filled with fighter planes. Instead, like Josephine Tey, she shows us great moral battles being fought at the dining table, or on a walk in the home wood. In the betrayals between parents and children, in contempt arising between husbands and wives, in the failures of courage or the temptations of ambition that are first and most clearly seen in the private interactions of people who know one another well.
So even though she uses the traditions of the golden age detective story to tell quite a different tale, she does so with a respect for the form. She understands that at their best those novels were capable of a kind of subtle insight that could show you great matters in small and she uses the form to do precisely what it does best. Oh how I love this book.
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LibraryThing member JohnGrant1
In an alternate world where Britain came to an "honourable" peace with Hitler in 1941, leaving the Reich in control of mainland Europe -- complete with extermination camps, whose existence is fully known by the Brits -- there's a murder during a weekend house party at Farthing, the ancestral seat
The cover strapline makes comparisons with Robert Harris's Fatherland and Philip Roth's The Plot Against America; the latter I haven't read, though I own a copy and must dig it out soon. The comparison with the former seems invalid, though. Harris's cop hero has acclimatized to operating under Nazi occupation, and, even as he resents it, is largely in acceptance of it. Lucy/David and Carmichael, however, are drawn progressively closer to the abyss, and know they are being drawn; they are given the stark choice of fleeing from its edge or acquiescing to the long, slowly accelerating fall.
As an aside, I was amused by one thing: After reading for several chapters, I thought, Lucy is really more of a Bunny than a Lucy, to be in the spirit of country house cozies. About four pages later Lucy revealed that her father's pet name for her was . . . Bunny.
This is a top-notch book that -- at the same time as being as compulsive a page-turner as you're likely to come across all year -- forces ethical considerations onto the page, so that the reader, like the tale's heroes, doesn't have the option of simply avoiding them but must engage with them, one way or the other.
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of the Eversleys. Farthing has also given its name to the Farthing Set, a group of well placed, powerful, far-right politicians intent, although they insist their motives are the best, on bringing to Britain the same hell that Hitler has created in the rest of Europe. For much of the length of this book we seem to be being treated to a cozy country house mystery, told, in alternate chapters, in the two standard modes for a cozy: a third-person narrative following the investigation of Inspector Carmichael of the Yard, and a first-person account by Lucy, daughter of the current Lord and Lady Eversley, and enough of a rebel to have married a Jew -- a revolting decision in a land where antisemitism is just a hairsbreadth from being fully institutionalized, with official persecution seemingly just around the corner. In especial, Lucy's crime is sufficient in her mother's eyes to make both she and her husband expendable, sacrificial lambs to be thrown to the cops to keep the investigation from uncovering too many home truths. By the book's end all the horrors of Walton's dystopia are not just revealed: we are, thanks to the wonderful empathy she builds up in us for Lucy and husband David, and for Inspector Carmichael -- who as a homosexual has his own worries in the repressive nightmare that is Britain -- right in the middle of the terror.The cover strapline makes comparisons with Robert Harris's Fatherland and Philip Roth's The Plot Against America; the latter I haven't read, though I own a copy and must dig it out soon. The comparison with the former seems invalid, though. Harris's cop hero has acclimatized to operating under Nazi occupation, and, even as he resents it, is largely in acceptance of it. Lucy/David and Carmichael, however, are drawn progressively closer to the abyss, and know they are being drawn; they are given the stark choice of fleeing from its edge or acquiescing to the long, slowly accelerating fall.
As an aside, I was amused by one thing: After reading for several chapters, I thought, Lucy is really more of a Bunny than a Lucy, to be in the spirit of country house cozies. About four pages later Lucy revealed that her father's pet name for her was . . . Bunny.
This is a top-notch book that -- at the same time as being as compulsive a page-turner as you're likely to come across all year -- forces ethical considerations onto the page, so that the reader, like the tale's heroes, doesn't have the option of simply avoiding them but must engage with them, one way or the other.
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LibraryThing member stephxsu
It seems that I am not cut out to like books where the author/narrator writes as if he/she doesn't really care about the outcomes of the characters. This is a murder mystery in the way of Wilkie Collins' [book: The Moonstone]: the characters all act strangely and they're all hiding things and yet
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no one, not even the narrator, has the power to get them to reveal what they're hiding. It makes for a frustrating and claustrophobic experience. For those of you who really appreciate this unusual type of arm's-length, seemingly apathetic storytelling, FARTHING and the rest of this series will most likely be right up your sleeve. But it just wasn't for me. Show Less
LibraryThing member mossjon
I feel mostly dissatisfied after reading Farthing, especially after hearing all the hype. As a mystery, it proved unchallenging. As alternate history, it intrigued me, but left me wanting more depth, more worldbuilding. I could have done without the addition of another second class citizen group,
The writing style reminded me of Agatha Christie (but not as well done) and Dorothy Sayers (again, not quite as well done). I would have preferred a narrative told from either first person or third person, but not both alternating.
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besides the already persecuted Jews. The writing style reminded me of Agatha Christie (but not as well done) and Dorothy Sayers (again, not quite as well done). I would have preferred a narrative told from either first person or third person, but not both alternating.
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Publication
Tor Books (2007), Edition: 1st, 336 pages
Subjects
Original language
English
Original publication date
2006
Physical description
319 p.
ISBN
076535280X / 9780765352804