Half a Crown (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: Sir Alan, Uncle Carmichael, Sir Guy (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Walton's fine conclusion to her alternative-history trilogy (after Ha'penny), former Scotland Yarder Peter Carmichael, now head of the secret police organization known as the Watch, must prepare for a peace conference to be held in London two decades after Britain reached an accommodation with Hitler's Germany in the early 1940s. Carmichael also has to worry about his sexual relationship with his valet, Jack, and the covert unit within the Watch he's created to smuggle British Jews out of the country. Then his naïve 18-year-old ward, Elvira Royston, who's about to be presented to the queen, overhears a conversation that could compromise her protector. Elvira, who winds up in police custody after attending a political rally that turns violent, accepts her authoritarian society with a casualness that's truly chilling. Walton's understated prose and deft characterizations elevate this above similar works such as Fatherlandand SS-GB. Some readers, though, may feel let down by an optimistic ending that jars with the series' overall downbeat tone. (Oct.)
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Review

“Stunningly powerful…. A standout. Mainstream readers should be enthralled as well.”
—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) on Farthing

“If le Carré scares you, try Jo Walton.”
—Ursula K. LeGuin on Farthing

“A literary Guernica—a top-notch thriller set in a terrified Britain that is all too willing to trade freedom for security, and which gets neither.”
—Cory Doctorow on Ha'Penny

“Haunting…. Like meticulously nested Matroyshka dolls, both Farthing and Ha’penny reveal complex arguments layered in their elegantly structured narratives.”
—Sarah Weinman, Los Angeles Times

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books (September 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765316218
• ISBN-13: 978-0765316219
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #583,104 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, but troubling, October 8, 2008

By	Stan Mark Kaplan "Stan Kaplan" (Bethesda, MD) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Half a Crown is well written and exciting to the last page. It also relies on a hugely implausible occurrence to keep the plot in motion. And the book is also disturbing, probably in a way the author did not intend.

The hole in plot is an extraordinary lapse of judgment by Watch Commander Carmichael, in which he deliberately reveals his true aims and activities to a complete stranger, and inadvertently to another person. Carmichael's out-of-character foolishness is a transparent and clumsy plot device. It moves the plot along, but it is a rip in the narrative that I was never able to put out of mind.

There are other weaknesses in the story. People travel in airships, which is a truly hackneyed way of signaling to the reader that this is a different world. Carmichael, the head of the British Gestapo, is fearful that any stranger at his door could be an assassin, but takes a long country drive with no security in sight. These are small things, but they stand out as failures by the author to maintain the perfect pitch she sustained in the first two books.

The troubling part of the story is that it strongly suggests that Britain could have been just fine if it had made peace with Hitler. In the Farthing world, by 1960 Britain is one of three global powers (with Germany and Japan); the country is prosperous; and the empire is secure and mainly subservient. Change one crucial detail - give Britain a democracy rather than a fascist government - and Britain in the Farthing world is arguably much better off than in the real world where it fought Hitler and bankrupted itself. The author did not have to go this route with the story - that is, fascist Britain did not have to be wealthy and powerful - and it is too bad she did.

One other jarring note is the depiction of the United States. The U.S. is apparently a third-rate power, has lost wars with Japan and Britain, is coming apart at the seams, and to add insult to injury someone has nuked Miami. I don't know the author's intentions, but she has painted a picture of the United States that I suspect matches what much of the European elite thinks ought to have happened to the upstarts across the ocean.

I have a final criticism. The author never explained how James Thirkie was induced to commit suicide by gassing himself in a car. Having gone through the trouble of setting up this extraordinary situation, the author never does anything with it. Thirkie becomes even more intriguing when we learn that not only did he negotiate peace with Hitler, but his sister-in-law was married before the war to Himmler. There was a lot more that could have been done with this character, but the author did not take the opportunity.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine conclusion to an excellent trilogy, October 1, 2008

By	Dr. F. S. Ledgister "FSJ Ledgister" (Atlanta Ga) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Walton's 'Small Change' Trilogy, begun with Farthing, and continued with Ha'penny is brought to a satisfactory, and somewhat surprising conclusion in this book. Unlike its predecessors it does not revolve around a crime. Instead it is focused on the actions of two characters, the commander of Britain's political police, the Watch, Commander Carmichael, and his ward, Elvira Royston, as they grapple with the political and social realities of this alternative Britain of 1960. Carmichael, and his partner/manservant Jack provide continuity with the previous novels, though mention is made of characters from both, and characters from both previous novels make appearances.

Walton plays with alternative history like a musician, bringing in elements from actual history with a slight skew. In Farthing it was the Cliveden Set, in Ha'penny, it was the Mitford sisters; here it is Burgess, minus Maclean, Philby, and Blunt, but elevated. The novel concludes with a twist, as surprising as it is welcome, delivered by a character singularly appropriate for the role.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Average, December 19, 2008

By	R. Albin (Ann Arbor, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The concluding volume of an alternative history trilogy in which Britain made peace with Nazi Germany in 1940. The volume recounts the fall of the British authoritarian state through the experience of its 2 protagonists. Walton is a competent writer but this book lacks the best features of its predecessors. The prior books contained some clever plot construction, the first book was a variant of the country house murder mystery, the second a clever play on Hamlet, but this one lacks any such elements. The prior books drew on some historical characters as models for some of the characters but this one does not. The plotting and characterization are workmanlike. Several aspects of the plot are a bit strained. As an alternative history, this book doesn't do very well, with little interesting detail or effort to flesh out the proposed alternative path of history.