Farthing
Jo Walton
Tor Books
<p>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. <br /></p><p>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. <br /></p><p>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.<br /></p><p>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.<br /></p>From Publishers Weekly<p><em>Starred Review.</em> World Fantasy Award–winner Walton (<em>Tooth and Claw</em>) crosses genres without missing a beat with this stunningly powerful alternative history set in 1949, eight years after Britain agreed to peace with Nazi Germany, leaving Hitler in control of the European continent. A typical gathering at the country estate of Farthing of the power elite who brokered the deal is thrown into turmoil when the main negotiator, Sir James Thirkie, is murdered, with a yellow star pinned to his chest with a dagger. The author deftly alternates perspective between Lucy Kahn, the host's daughter, who has disgraced herself in her family's eyes by marrying a Jew, and Scotland Yard Inspector Peter Carmichael, who quickly suspects that the killer was not a Bolshevik terrorist. But while the whodunit plot is compelling, it's the convincing portrait of a country's incremental slide into fascism that makes this novel a standout. Mainstream readers should be enthralled as well. <em>(Aug.)</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p>From School Library Journal<p>Adult/High School–An influential family's weekend party is the stage for murder in post-World War II England. On the first night, a major politician is found dead with a yellow Star of David pinned to his chest with a dagger. Daughter of the house Lucy and her Jewish husband had been surprised to be included. Clearly, their invitation was an obvious setup by someone in the Fascist Farthing Set who is trying to pin the murder on her husband. An investigator from Scotland Yard discerns that in addition to anti-Semitism, the homosexuality of some of the key figures plays a major role in the crime, and the investigator has his own secret that plays out as a significant factor in the outcome of the case. The accurately portrayed civilian setting will make the novel useful for world history classes, and it's a gripping read for teens who like a good English murder mystery. It's comparable to Agatha Christie's novels with substantial social issues and a heavier dose of history thrown in.<em>–Ellen Bell, Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton, CA</em> <br />Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. </p></br></br></br></br></br></br>