Customer Reviews

Farthing

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Farthing is a book that I found compulsively readable, but that I dreaded reading. Not because I didn't want to know what happened, but because I knew what happened would be wrenching. It delivered, too -- the novel is powerful, thought-provoking, and deeply sad.

It is set in a country house in England in about 1950. But not our England: in this one a splinter group of the Tories, the Farthing Set, pushed for a separate peace with Hitler in 1941, ending the war. Europe is under Nazi control, and is a hellhole for Jews. The Germans continue to fight with the Soviets. Th US, under President Lindbergh, has remained neutral. And the Farthing Set continue to jockey for power in an increasingly unpleasant, though still green, England.

Lucy Kahn is the daughter of the power behind the scenes of the Farthing Set, Lady Eversley. Lucy and her Jewish husband, David, are at her parents' home for a party prior to a crucial vote, despite Lucy's break with her anti-Semitic parents over her marriage to David. Then a leading Farthing MP is murdered, in a way that seems crudely to suggest Jewish involvement.

Alternating chapters tell of the investigation of the crime by Inspector Carmichael, an intelligent man with a dangerous secret of his own: he is homosexual. (Indeed, so are many of the characters in this book, including several of the Farthing Set.) Carmichael slowly figures out what has really happened, while the powers that be push for David Kahn's arrest, despite the ultimate absurd nature of any claims that he committed the murder. The waters are muddied by a curious attack on Lucy and her father.

As I said, I could see all along that this was leading to a scary resolution, and so it does. Scary, bitter, almost hopeless, and quite moving. And thought-provoking about the dangers of fascism.

It's not a perfect book. Some of the plot details seem a bit too pat, too much of a setup. While the two main characters (Lucy Kahn and Inspector Carmichael) are well-depicted, and very sympathetic, the other characters are hard to grasp. David Kahn comes off as little more than a saint, while we get almost no understanding the true villains, particularly Lucy's evil Mummy, Lady Eversley. All the characters seem to have absurdly perfect "gaydar", as well. But these are but quibbles, and only slightly muffle the impact of a powerful book.

Jo Walton is very good at taking something familiar and putting an unfamiliar, intriguing spin on it. Previously, she's done this with King Arthur (_The King's Peace_ and _The King's Name_), Irish mythology (_The Prize in the Game_), and Victorian society (_Tooth and Claw_). In _Farthing_, she takes the traditional English country mystery, adds in alternate history, and comes up with something new and brilliant.

Lucy Kahn has come to her parents' country house, Farthing, for the weekend, bringing her new husband, David. Their marriage caused a scandal, because David is Jewish, while Lucy is of the British upper class, and Lucy is hoping that the stay with her parents will bring about a reconciliation. Instead, it brings violent death, when one of the other houseguests, who was instrumental in bringing about the 1941 peace with Hitler and Germany, is murdered, under circumstances that seem to implicate David. Soon, Inspector Carmichael of Scotland Yard enters the scene, and he and Lucy follow separate but parallel investigative tracks which lead to shocking conclusions.

The point-of-view alternates between Lucy's first person and Carmichael's third person, both splendidly done. I particularly liked Lucy, who's not quite as scatterbrained as she might initially appear, and who has a marvelous style of speaking and system of allusions (I loved her terms for sexual orientation). Both she and Carmichael are outsiders to some extent, Lucy because she's chosen to marry a Jew, Carmichael because he's a policeman (and for other reasons), and thus both are excellent viewpoints characters, looking from the outside in at different angles.

Walton slowly slips in bits and pieces of the alternate history, of which the salient fact, as mentioned above, is England's peace with Hitler, engineered by a group of conservative politicians called "the Farthing Set". Eventually, a clearer picture of this alternate history emerges, of what's already happened, and what might be going to happen. The resonances with today's political scene are chilling, and the book's ending is very unsettling. I'm glad I know there's to be a sequel.

_Farthing_ might just be the best book I've read this year.

This is an English country house murder mystery, extremely well done but basically typical of its kind--except that it's set in 1949 in a Britain that made peace with Nazi Germany in 1941, and is sliding closer and closer to fascism.

The Farthing set, the political clique within the Conservative party that ousted Churchill and negotiated the peace, are currently in partial eclipse, and are holding a retreat at the Eversley family estate. The Eversleys' daughter Lucy, who married a Jewish man over family objections, is surprised and somewhat annoyed that her mother has invited them, or rather, insisted that they attend, but she and her husband are there.

On the first night, Sir James Thirkie, a major leader of the group and the man who actually negotiated the peace, is murdered, with evidence planted to make it appear to uncritical observers that the murder was committed by a Jew.

The story is told in alternating chapters, Lucy's account of her experiences, and the progress of Inspector Carmichael's investigation. It's really beautifully done, the English country house murder and the story of a country sinking into fascism wound around each in a way that works perfectly--the murder investigation winding to a satisfying, nicely complex but fair-to-the-reader resolution, and the political story and its human impact told honestly, convincingly, going where you know it has to go, while never getting as tough to read as it easily could get.

Maybe not the thing to read when you're feeling stressed and need something soothing or distracting, but really excellent. Highly recommended.

Have you ever read a book and thought, 'By all rights, this will be an award-winning best-seller'? That was my reaction all the way through Farthing.

Jo Walton's previous book, Tooth and claw won the World Fantasy Award and started a small resurgence of Trollope reading. But the dragons may have turned some readers off, limiting the book's appeal.

Farthing has a chance at becoming a crossover hit among mainstream audiences, in part because it avoids the more obvious fantasy elements and tells (what appears in the beginning to be) a more conventional story.

The book is set in 1949 England, and posits an alternate universe where Rudolf Hess's mission was successful and Britain made peace with the Nazis in 1941. The story itself begins with a cozy murder mystery in a country estate.

The narrative alternates chapter-by-chapter between the first person account of Lucy Kahn née Eversley, a young heiress who's not quite as twitterpated as she appears on first glance, and a third person police procedural, focused on the stolid Inspector Carmichael of Scotland Yard.

I don't want to say too much about the plot, because its unfolding is one of the delights of the book. Suffice it to say, both inspector and daughter take separate but parallel paths to uncovering the mystery, each learning only part of the story.

Lucy's voice is utterly captivating:
"I don't suppose you've ever considered what it would mean to know that someone close to you had done something unspeakable -- and by that I don't mean shooting a fox or putting lemonade into a single malt, the way Daddy would."

Lucy's voice just wins me over every time she speaks. She's got the most charming personal shorthand for certain terms that I really wish would catch on more widely.

You can read the first two chapters online on Jo Walton's website. Go ahead; I'll wait. [Though you may not be able to afterwards.]

I give this book my highest recommendation, and urge everyone to read it.

Ten years after Britain made peace with Nazi Germany, Lucy Kahn nee Eversley and her husband David visit her parents' country home. The Eversley's are part of select groups of aristocracy known as the Farthing Set, rich movers and shakers who negotiated the end of Britain's war with Germany and ousted Churchill. Lucy has not been part of this set for some time. Her husband is a Jew. But now their family insists that they be present for this sudden event. The reason becomes obvious: Sir James Thirkie, the person most responsible for the peace, is found murdered, a Star of David pinned to his chest with his own knife. Inspector Peter Anthony Carmichael, the investigator from Scotland Yard, realizes something is amiss. But even he may fall victim to the course that a powerful few have decided to set for their country, however awful that course truly is.

I've never read any of Jo Walton's science fiction and fantasy work before reading her alternate history novel, "Farthing." I may have to look into some of her other books. Walton has a terrific grasp on character and plot development, and a certain playfulness that drags the reader along, even though the reader may not want to go. For "Farthing" is a very dark and cynical book, and while I liked the book, I'm not certain if I can say I "enjoyed" it in the way I enjoyed other alternate history works.

The narrative alternates between Lucy Kahn's first person narrative and Carmichael's third-person point-of-view. Lucy is the sort of silly, fluffy "proper" English lady one finds in the drawing room cozy mysteries of Agatha Christie or Dorothy L. Sayers (Walton dedicates this book to the latter). However, while not particularly "book smart" she's attentive, clever, and utterly devoted to her husband. She knows he's innocent, and the pain she feels as she starts to realize just who is responsible for the murder and why is very well drawn and real. The reader, initially turned off by Lucy's antics, quickly see her as perhaps the most ethically grounded character in the novel.

Carmichael, the detective, is also fascinating. A veteran, he initially expresses his own prejudices about the Jews, but also quickly realizes that David Kahn is not the killer. Carmichael, although solidly ethical, unfortunately proves far more vulnerable than Lucy. He's a homosexual, and so has much to lose in this world that has taken its disdain of gays to illogical levels. It soon becomes clear that Carmichael may not be allowed to bring the murderer to justice without too substantial a personal cost.

Walton's cross-pollination of genres serves "Farthing" well, as all the classic elements of the cozy are there: aristocrats, terrible murder, an obvious suspect that can't be guilty; the sharp detective who knows all. But this mystery it set against the background of a Europe dominated by Hitler embroiled in long struggle against Stalinist Russia. The United States has remained isolationist under Charles Lindbergh, even developing renewed ties to the Empire of Japan. So anyone with any sense will realize that this murder of the broker of the peace with Germany will be more than a simple murder. The implications are much larger, and much darker. What begins as a well-crafted mystery and procedural quickly becomes a battle of wills and a frantic need for survival.

The book isn't perfect, of course. Walton has done her homework, and gets many of the facts right. Details, such as the issuing of yellow stars and registration of Jews in Europe are nice little touches that help build a believable world. On the other hand, other details are sketchy. It seems unlikely that Hitler and Stalin would still be fighting an eight-year war without any clear victors. It's also unclear how the history of the U.S. has unfolded. Lindbergh is president, but the hows and whys are never explored. Perhaps Walton will explore this in more detail in the announced sequel.

It's tempting to read "Farthing" as Walton's diatribe against today's political world, both in her own U.K. and in the U.S. While it's hard to dismiss that possibility, "Farthing" is perhaps better read as a cautionary tale. The warning comes through loud and clear. David Kahn insists that England is different, that what is going on in Europe cannot happen in England. History teaches us otherwise. "Farthing" is a chilling examination of a country sliding into dictatorship, and how easy that is when the few with power want it, and the masses permit it. It can always happen here.

Haiku review:
How can you expect
a happy end in a book
where Hitler still reigns?

Review:
Though a bit slower to start than I expected, Farthing was (overall) an outstanding allegory on fascism disguised as an alternate history novel disguised as a murder mystery. By the time you're about one-quarter to one-third of the way through it, you will have trouble putting it down. The attention to the language is excellent (though I found myself pining for a bit of Irvine Welsh-style slang and cockney) and author Jo Walton pays peculiar attention to certain banalia like apparel, cooking, and eating.

The narrative structure follows a curious A/B pattern with odd chapters written 1st person (as Lucy Kahn) and even chapters written 3rd person (as Carmichael). It falls into a good rhythm that helps to control the pacing and the various reveals.

Walton's use of the alternate history platform seems to be a device to cast the setting of the murder mystery. The chapters that follow Carmichael have a nod to the classic pulp mysteries (I'm thinking Raymond Chandler) and honor those tropes such as re-hashing the events of the crime and narrating through theories about that crime.

One thing I feel disinclined to comment upon is the plausibility of this alternate history. Walton gives an oblique nod to Philip Roth's novel, The Plot Against America that makes me suspect that if Roth's alternate post-WWII world "works" then the story presented in Farthing could be grafted onto that timeline equally well. My knowledge of the WWII-era politics and military history run a bit thin however and I am hesitant to render an enthusiastic "it could have happened". That said, there is a bit of fearful symmetry between Farthing and the post-9/11 United States; this seems especially the case as you race through those last fifty pages telling yourself that it will be all right, that there is still a chance for a happy ending, even as you turn into the last chapter.

This is possibly one of the most frightening stories I've ever read. It shows how some ambitious people, convinced that their way of life is best and to be protected, can conspire to murder and to throw the blame on an innocent man who happens to be a member of a despised group - in this case, a Jew. Some may not like the dialogue, but from my reading it is fairly typical of upper class British society in the 1940s and 50s. This story shows how easy it is to "go along to get along", and how easy it is to persuade others of the automatic guilt of the outsider. This is nothing like other books Jo Walton has written. It is a somewhat difficult read partly because the people and settings are so different from what we in the U.S. think of as normal; partly because it doesn't read like the usual mystery, and a major part of the story is the detective's efforts to solve the murder; and partly because it could have happened that way, and if it had, how terrible the results would have been. Near the end, the story refers to U.S. President Lindbergh, and the fact that Jews cannot enter the United States. I am old enough to have been denied a job in the late 1950s because my married name "sounded Jewish" - which is part of why I find this book so frightening.

, then whacks you over the head.

As the other reviewers have stated, it starts off as a "cozy" English mystery. Lucy Kahn's first person and Inspector Carmichael's third person narratives tease out the alternative history facts slowly through the book. Although I have never read any Christie or Sayers, I can see their influence on this book.

It ends as biting social commentary, though one can see the ending coming a kilometer away.

This is a great book on several levels.

The reviewers on the dust jacket compared this book to Harris' _Fatherland_, and also to Roth's _The Plot Against America_ . Read the latter to see how Lindbergh gets elected President.

Farthing is an alternate history novel of England, similar in timeframe to SS-GB but with one big difference: the English and Germans had come to terms in 1941; the Continent had been left to Hitler and England to the English. In this novel, it's not easy to see which landmass got the better bargain.

At first it seems that England was the natural winner. Since the Peace, England has had a smooth course. The Farthing Set -- the group that took Hess's overture for peace and ran with it -- are comfortably ensconced as the saviours of England. While things do not always go their way politically, they've become a permanent force to be reckoned with.

As the story opens James Thirkie, the official leader of the Farthing Set, is visiting Farthing, the childhood home of Lucy Kahn. Lucy herself is not happy being there. She married a Jewish man and was never forgiven by her mother, although her father gave his blessing. Her mother has insisted on their coming, however, and Lucy's husband David hopes that it signals a change in her mother's coolness toward him. The visit has not been a success and Lucy is as confused as to why they were invited as she is happy to be going home to London that Sunday afternoon.

Unfortunately for her and David, James Thirkie has been killed overnight. He was found with a yellow star pinned to his chest with a dagger, and suspicion naturally turns to David. It seems to Inspector Carmichael from Scotland Yard a clumsy attempt to influence the direction of his investigation, and he perseveres in ignoring the bait dangling so tantalizingly close.

This is a marvelous political murder mystery in which religion, station, political stance, and even sexual orientation all play a part in how the mystery is unfolded. That England would have refused to fight and instead accommodated Hitler in his conquest of Europe seems implausible at first but every detail fits neatly into a mosaic of accommodation and the birth of England's own version of fascism seems the natural result of actions taken over the Peace years.

This book doesn't read at all like Science Fiction, which is where I found it. I'm torn as to whether it should be shelved in General Fiction, however, because I could easily see someone reading this and believing it to be a true history of England's war, it's that detailed and believable. I think this is the first Jo Walton book I've read and it certainly won't be the last.

A murder mystery set in an alternative history in which World War II was brought to an end in 1941 (as a result of Rudolf Hess's harebrained 'mission'). Britain is moving towards fascism under the influence of the 'Farthing' set (based on the Cliveden set in actual history) of conservative aristocrats. A story of frightening possibilities, and one relevant to us today.

Two small quibbles: a knighthood does not disqualify from membership in the House of Commons, as the author suggests; and the bird on the farthing was, as far as I can recall, a wren rather than a robin.