Londres, 1952. La Segunda Guerra Mundial no ha ocurrido. Inglaterra se rindió a los nazis y así comenzó una de las épocas más oscuras de su historia. Mientras en el frente ruso prosigue la larga y encarnizada guerra, el pueblo británico vive sometido a un gobierno siniestro y autoritario. Sin embargo, el número de los que desafían dicha situación va en aumento. La Resistencia, encabezada por el propio Churchill, representa una espina cada vez más dolorosa para el gobierno.

This is my first, no, second encounter with alternative history. At least, that I'm aware of.
I liked the book a whole lot. Not that I'm very familiar with British politics in general and of the '50's in particular, but the plot sounded plausible and it made me think about what could have happened if.... What would have been different, how would things have turned out.
We'll never know, of course, but it was nice to think about it.
Liked the epilogue as well, shed some more light on the historical background (the real one). ( )

Just not working for me. ( )

It is 1952 and in the UK the people are ruled by a puppet government that submitted to the Nazi government in 1940 after the disaster of Dunkirk. Churchill is in hiding, and the anti German feeling and the boldness of the UK resistance is growing week on week. Germany is fighting Russia, still, a long and protracted war that seems to have no end. Hitler is still in charge of most of Europe, but is suffering from health issues and hasn’t been seen for a long time. As his power wains, the jostle between the Army and the SS starts for control. The puppet government in Britain finally cedes to the Germans request and starts rounding up Jewish people with prior to deportation to the east.

David is a minor civil servant working in the Dominion department, with a secret that not even his wife knows. He has anti German sympathies and he is approached by his university friend to work for the resistance by providing secret material to them. He befriends another lady in the same department, and surreptitiously obtains her key to the secret cabinet. He has a couple of close shaves whilst in copying secret documents, but one tiny error leaves him exposed. Following the tragic death of their child, his wife thinks he is having an affair, but when she finds out his real role, and is questioned by the authorities, she is drawn in to the activities of the resistance reluctantly.

Frank Muncaster is a scientist and a another university friend of David. His brother is now lives in America and is working on the atomic project, but is over to for their mother’s funeral. They have never got on, and they have a massive argument in Frank’s flat where Frank is told some of the secrets that xxx knows. He pushes him out the window, where he breaks his arm. Frank is deemed to be mad, and is sent to a mental hospital for treatment. Both the SS and the resistance realise that he holds the secret to the new weapons that America is developing, and both go to see him and visit his flat.

As David’s spying is exposed, he and his cell look at extracting Frank from the mental hospital and getting him to America with his secret. And so begins a tense race between the resistance cell moving Frank across the country and the authorities trying to track them down until the thrilling ending.

Sansom has done a reasonably good job here of a speculative future of a post WWII Britain where Churchill was never made PM and the fascists take over the running of the country. The elements of the plot are good too, from the gloomy despondent population that are slowly being oppressed, but have a glimmer of hope from the resistance under Churchill, to a Germany poised on the edge of civil war.

Well worth reading.
( )

An enjoyable counterfactual thriller - reminded me in parts of Philip Roth's "The Plot Against America", particularly in its depiction of how fascism and anti-semitism could've taken hold outside Nazi Germany given the right conditions. It's not without its flaws - for example, I felt that the characters sometimes spent too much time telling each other things about themselves, which occasionally made the narrative a bit clunky. On the other hand, the depiction of day-to-day life in a depressed, grey London under the thumb of an increasingly authoritarian police state is convincing and atmospheric - and it is a genuine page-turner.

It seems some reviewers have got a bit exercised over historical "accuracy" - and it may well be that if you have in-depth knowledge of the period, certain aspects of the book are bound to rankle (so perhaps a certain level of ignorance is bliss - I'm sure it was in my case!). But it's important to remember we're dealing with a counterfactual here - so who's to say how certain historical figures would've behaved given different circumstances/pressures. ( )