History is an interesting concept. It’s so easy to look back on all of these major events that have occurred in the world and wonder what things would be like if even one thing had happened differently. For instance, Gavrilo Princip, the man who assassinated Franz Ferdinand and started the chain of events leading up to the First World War, was only in the right place at the right time because a change in the archduke’s motorcade route put Ferdinand right in front of the sandwich shop at which Princip just happened to be eating at the time. But what if this sandwich shop had been just two doors down, putting Princip in a less advantageous position?
This is one of the major questions posed by author Andrew Blencowe in “The Goddess of Fortune,” a book which looks at an alternate history in which Japan and Germany had won WWII. Written in wonderfully skilled prose, this book manages to take a completely alternate timeline and relate it in such a way that it feels as if the story is actually unfolding before the reader’s eyes. The book takes place in the early 1940s, and follows a number of intriguing characters as they live in the history that Blencowe has created so well.
The cast of characters is by far the most intriguing aspect of this story. Covering numerous walks of life, we even get to spend some time with FDR and see his reaction to the imagined downfall of the Allies. Blencowe is successful in keeping all of the characters fairly realistic as they adjust to their surroundings, remembering all the while that they do not know a timeline in which the Allies are winning. And the fact that many of them are able to adjust so well to the happenings of the world is quite empowering. It’s nice to think that, even had we lost the war, mankind would still have held fast to its values.
This is a very interesting book, and it will not take a history buff to enjoy this excellently written story. This one is definitely worth checking out.
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