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Farthing (Small Change #1)

by Jo Walton (Goodreads Author)

3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 · rating details · 1,327 ratings · 297 reviews

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.

Despite her parents' evident disapproval, L...more

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published August 8th 2006 by Tor Books (first published 2006)

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Apr 24, 2013 Carol rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: um. no one?

Shelves: time-period-fantasy, mystery, male-lead, female-lead

Alas, another case of the right reader, wrong book. I went into Farthing with rather high expectations, I confess. I saw Walton has won a couple of awards for other works--including the World Fantasy Award--and this one was nominated for a Nebula and Locus, among others. When this series got several mentions on The Incomparable (produced by 5by5), a podcast series devoted to all things geek sci-fi, I became tempted to try it. When the book arrived from the library, I was surprised to discover it...more

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Feb 07, 2012 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Barbara by: Gail

Shelves: holocaust-ww-2, historical-fiction, mystery

Farthing: a small historical British coin.
Farthings: A group of villages which are home to a privileged group of politically connected people, called "The Farthing Set".

The main thrust of this novel takes place at a weekend retreat of "The Farthing Set", people who are politically well-connected and all with the "proper pedigrees". The time is designated as 1949, which can be somewhat confusing, because this group was allegedly instrumental in a Peace Treaty with Hitler in 1940, but this is afte...more Farthing: a small historical British coin.
Farthings: A group of villages which are home to a privileged group of politically connected people, called "The Farthing Set".

The main thrust of this novel takes place at a weekend retreat of "The Farthing Set", people who are politically well-connected and all with the "proper pedigrees". The time is designated as 1949, which can be somewhat confusing, because this group was allegedly instrumental in a Peace Treaty with Hitler in 1940, but this is after all, a novel . During this gathering a murder occurs and the intricate tale begins to unwind. Rather than dwell on the plot here, I think it is important to observe the depths of unrelenting anti-semitism and homophobia that is present.

Coincidentally, as I was reading this book, The New Republic(September 23, 2010, published a review of another publication, Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England

Trials of the Diaspora A History of Anti-Semitism in England

, by Jonathan Freedland. This illuminating article succintly describes the history of antisemitism in England and the social and political implications. He states that England is the key to antisemitism itself- they were the first nation to cause an enduring , national expulsion of an entire population of Jewish people in history.

"And the subject at hand- English antisemitism- often operates in the nebulous,subtle, implicit register..."

Freedland further comments in a quotation from this book, "'... the mentality of modern English antisemitism,' to the slippery, subcutaneous prejudices and assumptions, the slights and the snubs, that have informed centuries of English social life"

Walton has captured this climate with clarity and painful realism. The Farthing Set, who are intent upon maintaining appearances, propriety and dignity; belie their stances with statements and actions of coldness, disdain and complete antipathy toward both Jews and homosexual individuals.

Initially Farthing appeared to be a light, pleasant mystery, but one can view, as the narration progresses, that there is something far more odious occurring here.

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May 20, 2013 Margaret rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: alternate-history, mystery, fantasy-and-science-fiction, authors-vw

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 as written about by Anthony Trollope (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...more 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 as written about by Anthony Trollope (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.(less)

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Mar 21, 2008 Siria rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Siria by: Trin

Shelves: 21st-century, alternate-history, canadian-fiction, crime-fiction, historical-fiction

This is such a great read: an old-fashioned country house mystery novel set within an alternate history premise: what if Hess' mission to the UK had succeeded, and Britain and the Reich had made peace in 1941? It's told from the alternating viewpoints of Lucy Eversley Kahn, the daughter of a conservative viscount who's married a Jewish man in spite of the disapproval of her family, and of Inspector Carmichael, the policeman assigned to investigate the murder of the leading politician Sir James T...more This is such a great read: an old-fashioned country house mystery novel set within an alternate history premise: what if Hess' mission to the UK had succeeded, and Britain and the Reich had made peace in 1941? It's told from the alternating viewpoints of Lucy Eversley Kahn, the daughter of a conservative viscount who's married a Jewish man in spite of the disapproval of her family, and of Inspector Carmichael, the policeman assigned to investigate the murder of the leading politician Sir James Thirkie at the Eversley family's country estate.

It's very atmospheric, and well set up. Walton excels at carrying through the consequences of her set up--there's no pulling of punches here. I really liked Lucy, who had a strong vein of common-sense lying beneath a rather feather-brained appearance; though she narrates an equal amount of the book with Carmichael, I think she's far more clearly the main character, and the better sketched out. Many of the secondary characters are neat sketches of the kind of unreflective, privileged members of the upper classes that you can meet even nowadays in English society. There's a satisfyingly Byzantine level of intermarriage and interrelationships between them all, though the fact that the majority of the main characters in the novel appeared to be homosexual/bisexual/have little problem with homosexuality did strain credulity a little.

Walton alludes with great subtlety to the changes which have occurred in the time-line from 1941 onwards--the references to an isolationist America under President Lindbergh, for example--but there were times when I felt as if she needed to sketch out more clearly how the time-line had moved from A to B. How is the murder of one politician the equivalent of the destruction of a national symbol such as the Reichstag Fire? How does an anti-Semitic, anti-Bolshevik, anti-Other political movement gain such a foothold so quickly without any indication of an accompanying ideological programme? How did the Second World War become commonly known as the 'Jewish War'? I'm not hugely up on modern history, but as far as I'm aware, knowledge of what was going on in concentration camps didn't really seep through to England until after the end of the war; things would have to have occurred very differently, to have been spun very differently, I think, for such a name to gain common parlance, and we don't see how that occurred.

For a book which was so good in evoking a period feel in other respects, I was really surprised to see that it messed up on something so basic as forms of address and descent of titles: surely Sir James Thirkie's nephew should have inherited the baronetcy before him, if Sir James were the younger son; the younger sons of earls are addressed as 'the Honourable' as a courtesy, not as 'Lord.' The Irish police force is also referred to as the Gardaí, not the Garda (which is singular), though I'm more willing to let that slide because, well, it's not something people who're not Irish tend to get right.

These do seem like a lot of quibbles, but really they are the elements I saw which took a good book and kept it from being really fantastic. There's a sequel, Ha'penny, which I shall have to keep an eye out for, and which I hope improves on the promise shown here.(less)

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Aug 22, 2008 Shannon (Giraffe Days) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-fiction, alternate-history, 2008

On the back cover is a wonderfully written blurb/review from Publishers Weekly - I wish I could write like this! So succinct!

"World Fantasy Award-winner Jo Walton (Tooth and Claw) 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 control of the European continent. A typical gethering at the country estate of Farthing of the power elite who brokered the deal is thrown int...more

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May 06, 2008 Rob rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Rob by: Boing Boing

Shelves: alternate-history, 2008

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...more

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Sep 09, 2010 Jon rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jon by: Alternative Wolrd Sep 2010 Selection

Shelves: alternate-history, fiction, nebula-nominee, science-fiction, read-in-my-40s, moochable

I feel mostly dissatisfied after reading Farthing, especially after hearing all the hype. As a mystery, it proved unchallenging. As alternate history, it intrigued me, but left me wanting more depth, more worldbuilding. I could have done without the addition of another second class citizen group, besides the already persecuted Jews.

The writing style reminded me of Agatha Christie (but not as well done) and Dorothy Sayers (again, not quite as well done). I would have preferred a narrative told f...more

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Jun 28, 2008 Nick Fagerlund rated it 4 of 5 stars

A good-natured little cozy mystery about power, privilege, fascism, genocide, evil, and tea.

I lie, it's not good-natured in the slightest. It is, however, good. Go read it.

12 likes · like · see review

Dec 10, 2007 Dorian rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everybody!

Thoughts on Jo Walton's Farthing and its sequel Ha'Penny:

Really, these are the most delightful, most exciting, most troubling, most resonant books I've read in a long time. Yes, they're genre fiction, which means they'll be dismissed by some. And what a dreadful shame that would be--I wish these books were talked about as much as some of the things that pass for "literary fiction" these days.

Even at the level of genre, they're interesting: mystery/thriller much inspired by 20s & 30s Golden A...more

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Sep 23, 2007 Trin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, historicalfiction, sci-fi, queerlit, welsh-lit

A rec from Wychwood, and a goodie. What seems like an ordinary English country house mystery has dark political motivations and implications, as Walton gradually reveals more and more about this alternate 1949, one in a world where Britain made peace with Hitler in early 1941. Brr.

Walton does a great job of showing how ordinary, and in some cases, perfectly decent people can be affected by prejudice and by the removal of certain freedoms. Lucy, who carries half the POV, is a wonderfully-construc...more

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Jan 01, 2009 Cait rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Cait by: Lightreads

Shelves: currently-to-shelve, novel, all-of-my-reviewed-books, queer, race

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 04, 2012 Becky rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I wasn't a huge fan of this one. A mediocre book by what I'm willing to believe is a pretty good author. I enjoyed the prose and some of the characters. However....

Alternate history should evoke wonder or horror, but I found the worldbuilding dull here. The premise itself seems unbelievable - Hitler makes peace with Britain in 1941... and continues fighting the Russians for the next eight years. The U.S. and Japan never enter armed conflict for mysterious reasons. But whatever, it would all be w...more I wasn't a huge fan of this one. A mediocre book by what I'm willing to believe is a pretty good author. I enjoyed the prose and some of the characters. However....

Alternate history should evoke wonder or horror, but I found the worldbuilding dull here. The premise itself seems unbelievable - Hitler makes peace with Britain in 1941... and continues fighting the Russians for the next eight years. The U.S. and Japan never enter armed conflict for mysterious reasons. But whatever, it would all be worth it if the resulting world was interesting.

It just isn't, though. Alternate Britain in 1949 feels exactly like actual Britain in 1939. Pro-fascism and anti-Semitism are rampant, people feel uncomfortable having capitulated to Hitler but don't like the alternative of war, and everyone goes on living their lives. This is a trilogy, so Walton has two more books to enthrall and horrify us, but she doesn't do nearly enough in this first volume to make us invested in the world she's created. I'd honestly rather just reread The Remains of the Day.

This book is a mystery novel as well as an alternate history. The mystery drives the narrative, but is unfortunately a big mess. The first half is beautifully set up with interesting character conflicts, puzzling clues, and lots of potential suspects. The second half serves up a convoluted reveal that hinges on an unbelievable conspiracy and never fully explains the mechanism by which the murder was committed. Talk about breaking promises to your reader!

I may have a personal axe to grind here, as I detest conspiracy theories in fiction and in reality. I had to read Holy Blood, Holy Grail in college for an Arthurian Literature class and I've never fully recovered. People in power will lie, cheat, mislead, and seize on random events to further their goals (remember the Maine!) but they do not generally execute convoluted schemes. Politicians aren't supervillains. So I found this book's conclusion unrealistic.

On a final, unrelated note, this book was a good example of how to deal with GLBTQ themes poorly. It could have been much worse - I really appreciated that being gay or lesbian in this book did not consign you to being a miserable, untrusting malcontent, as certain storytellers of historical fiction *cough*JulianFellowes*cough* would like us to believe.

Unfortunately, Walton goes in the opposite direction and decides that portraying gay characters positively means using anachronistic language and concepts. One character has invented her own personal Kinsey scale, another actually uses the phrase "sexual orientation" (WHUT). The ideas about sexuality that would have defined gay and lesbian culture in 1940s Britain are nowhere evident. Also, everyone in this book has MYSTERIOUSLY ACCURATE gaydar, but that's perhaps its own problem.

Having torn this book to shreds, I would actually give Jo Walton a try again. I just won't read any more of her historical fiction.(less)

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Nov 05, 2008 Katharine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi, mystery

Farthing is a story about how injustice creeps into a society, framed as a murder mystery set in an alternate-universe England.

A lord is murdered at a country house party, which is a setup you'd find in Christie or Marsh. But this is an England at peace with Hitler in 1949, and where personal freedom is disappearing little by little for supposedly noble reasons. In fact, the way the book slips in political commentary while keeping you interested in the mystery, almost reflects the way the poli...more Farthing is a story about how injustice creeps into a society, framed as a murder mystery set in an alternate-universe England.

A lord is murdered at a country house party, which is a setup you'd find in Christie or Marsh. But this is an England at peace with Hitler in 1949, and where personal freedom is disappearing little by little for supposedly noble reasons. In fact, the way the book slips in political commentary while keeping you interested in the mystery, almost reflects the way the political leaders in the story slip in oppressive measures of control while distracting their subjects with threats of anarchy.

It story is told by two voices in alternating chapters, one in first person and one in third -- which doesn't seem like it would work, but it does, probably because the characters are both very well-rounded and sympathetic.

The writing is in general very good, in fact. Description, characterization, plot, all ring true. The themes of oppression, evil, and justice are highlighted very effectively – to the point of being frightening because they hit too close to home. The scenario the book presents of gradual descent into tyranny is all too believable.

I only have a few nit-picky criticisms of the book. One is that it leaves too many loose ends, and while tantalizing you with a fast-paced mystery, it ends suddenly with the barest sketch of a solution. While I realize the mystery is really only a framing device, as a reader I feel a bit cheated. It's a striking ending in terms of the overall purpose of the book, but in terms of a good story, a mystery, it's lacking.

The second problem is an overemphasis on homosexuality. There is a running theme of sex and power, and how both can be misused, occasionally at the same time. So relationships of unequal power are used within the book to help reveal true character. Sexuality is also an important plot point for several characters. I don't have a problem with any of this.

But when all sorts of characters are offhandedly revealed to be homosexual or bisexual, with no connection to the plot – it seems a bit much. I actually think this overemphasis distracts from the power of the novel's depiction of oppression. If you believe the book's depiction, 75% of all the british aristocracy are either gay or bi. Perhaps this wouldn't have stood out as much if not for the sex-as-power emphasis I noted above. It's all very confusing and would have been much more effective and subtle if some of the references were cut out.

However, the writing is fantastic, and these quibbles might not bother everyone – so overall, recommended. (less)

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Nov 25, 2008 Sandi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of Murder Mysteries and Alternate History

Shelves: 2008, cross-genre

“Farthing” by Jo Walton is an engaging murder mystery with a style and setting that reminds me of an Agatha Christie novel. The twist is that it’s set in a 1940’s Britain that negotiated a peace treaty with Hitler in 1939 to stop the Blitz. Hitler agreed to leave Britain alone and Britain agreed to let Hitler have the entire European continent. Now, it would be very easy for this alternative history novel to fall into a “Gee, look how different this is!” mode. However, “Farthing” works because i...more “Farthing” by Jo Walton is an engaging murder mystery with a style and setting that reminds me of an Agatha Christie novel. The twist is that it’s set in a 1940’s Britain that negotiated a peace treaty with Hitler in 1939 to stop the Blitz. Hitler agreed to leave Britain alone and Britain agreed to let Hitler have the entire European continent. Now, it would be very easy for this alternative history novel to fall into a “Gee, look how different this is!” mode. However, “Farthing” works because it treats the alternate history as normal. It also works because it takes place in England, not the Continent; because it takes place only a few years after the novel’s history diverges from real history; and because the mystery surrounds the people who were responsible for the treaty with Hitler. Because of the involvement of the characters with the setting’s history, the divergent setting can be revealed without a lot of awkward exposition.

As engaging as I thought the story was, I did have a couple of issues with “Farthing.” First, this novel seemed to have a lot more homosexual characters than you would find in a typical real population. There were at least 4 major characters that were gay or lesbian out of approximately 20 characters. (I am counting Lucy’s brother, Hugh, because he is mentioned frequently.) The homosexual angle probably wouldn’t have bothered me if it really had anything to do with the plot. It was pointless, but it was brought up over and over again. I also found Lucy’s silly euphemisms for the other character’s peccadilloes to be tedious and off-putting. For the record; gay males are Athenians, gay females are Macedonians. Committing adultery is going to Bognor, but two women going to Macedonia aren’t going to Bognor even if one of them is married. (???) The whole thing gets quite ridiculous.

If we had half stars, this book would be a 3-1/2. I really enjoyed it with the exception noted above. And, the ending surprised me a little. Carmichael does solve the murder case, but the outcome was unexpected. Sadly, it probably went down the way it would have in the real world. I would really like to read about Lucy and David’s life after this story ends and I think Inspector Carmichael is one of the finest detectives since Hercule Poirot.
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Jul 07, 2008 rivka rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebooks, other-spec-fic

After a few chapters in, I hadn't decided yet which disturbs me more: the Jew-Gentile intermarriage (and more, the casual way his Judaism is dismissed as nothing more than cultural) or the notion of a 1949 where the Third Reich is still intact (if constrained to its borders) and Hitler is still alive. I never did decide.

The narrator is quite confusing at times (clearly a deliberately unreliable narrator, as is not infrequently the case in murder mysteries). In fact, she goes on for several pages...more

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Jul 24, 2007 Lucy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, alternatehistory

Let me start off by saying, this is a brilliant book. Go read this book. Go out and buy it, or take it out of the library, or borrow it, and read it now. It's a brilliant read, but it's also a chilling social commentary. Everyone should read it.

Eight years ago, England made peace with Hitler. This peace was largely a political movement of a group of noblemen known as the Farthing set. Lucy Eversley is a daughter of the Farthing set, who has displeased her parents and their peers by marrying Davi...more

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Jun 17, 2008 Marya DeVoto rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book's plot was engaging and the writing was fair enough and the subject (political country house murder in an alternate-history Britain where the Brits made peace with Hitler instead of defeating him) was quite interest to me and yet there was something twee about it that put me off. In particular, the cutesiness with which the sheltered narrator (who is married to her brother's best friend, a dreamy assimilated Jew) talks about sex is fairly sickmaking. Maybe accurately so (look how all t...more

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Jan 07, 2012 Hazel rated it 3 of 5 stars

This surprising novel began as an English country house mystery, told from the points of view of a 'black-sheep' daughter of the house and a social-outsider police detective. It then became a chilling alternate-history tale of post-war England sliding into fascism. Walton paints a plausible picture of a 'Peace with Honour' which allows English governments to collaborate with a Europe-wide Third Reich, while antiSemitism and homophobia are excuses for a creeping police state at home. Walton's cha...more

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Dec 08, 2008 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dystopias-and-negative-utopias, fiction, feminism, heartbreak, historical-fiction, mystery, best-beloved, queer, horror

I'm utterly fascinated but I suspect that what's coming is going to hurt rather a lot. At this point my primary feelings are: being utterly enchanted by Mrs. Kahn and utterly heartbroken over Winston Churchill.

ADDENDUM: Alternate histories are always so difficult to really pull off (I'm thinking here of an SF novel I can't recall the title of, which begins with a similar premise - the Third Reich wins or is not beaten after WWII, and the Allies of the future, though continuing that war in their...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Suzanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

I waited more than a year to get this book from the library, and I wanted to like it a lot more than I did. However, I found it rather mediocre. The writing was acceptable, but nothing special. It began well, with a light English-country-house-murder feel, but veered off in another direction entirely more than once. The characters never felt real to me; they were barely more than two-dimensional "types." Lucy tells us over and over how much she and David love each other, but there was never any...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Catherine Fitzsimmons rated it 2 of 5 stars

Now over halfway through the ebooks offered in Tor.com‘s pre-launch promotion last year, I reached this alternate history novel taking place in a mid-20th century in which the second World War resolves in a truce with Germany, not victory for the Allies. The story is a murder mystery surrounding a group of British politicians instrumental to the peace terms with the the Third Reich, along with the London detective who investigates the case.

This book very nearly lost me right after the first chap...more

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Aug 15, 2012 Dorothea rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

Oh god. Just finished this, still shuddering. I have lots of thoughts but can't step back enough yet to write a really coherent review, so, bullet points:

+ It's the little details that are the most frightening. A woman mentions that her son died in Treblinka. In 1946. The content of the education bills that the Farthing Set hopes to push through, which is mentioned once and never again.

+ It was (in the first half anyway) also the little details that pushed me out of the story. I spent a lot of t...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Fungus Gnat rated it 4 of 5 stars

Lucy Kahn, the free-spirited daughter of a wealthy political rainmaker is growing impatient with the weekend party being thrown by “Mummy” for her “Farthing set,” on the estate of that name, and she must also deal with her new Jewish husband’s irritation at a guest’s having mistaken him for the hired help. More serious threats will beset Lucy and her husband though when one of the Farthing set’s more respectable members is stealthily murdered in his sleep, pinioned with a gold star, and suspicio...more Lucy Kahn, the free-spirited daughter of a wealthy political rainmaker is growing impatient with the weekend party being thrown by “Mummy” for her “Farthing set,” on the estate of that name, and she must also deal with her new Jewish husband’s irritation at a guest’s having mistaken him for the hired help. More serious threats will beset Lucy and her husband though when one of the Farthing set’s more respectable members is stealthily murdered in his sleep, pinioned with a gold star, and suspicion begins to fall on the only Jew in the house.

The story develops rather like a classic murder mystery—a number of possible suspects, everyone confined to the residence, clever poker-faced inspector on the spot—but this story has a serious twist: The year is 1949, but not the 1949 we read about in our history books. In Jo Walton’s 1949, World War II has been over for 8 years on the western front, Britain having reached a tacit accommodation with Hitler, and one of the things the Britons are accommodating is a burgeoning anti-Semitism.

Walton, perhaps torn between the advantages of first-person and third-person storytelling, takes the inventive route of opting for both: The odd-numbered chapters are told by Lucy, the even-numbered ones tell a parallel story by relating the experience of the inspector, though in the third person.

I found Walton’s book credible and engrossing throughout—the story line a splendid example of how the political can become intensely personal (and vice-versa). While I am not a real mystery buff, so some of the working out of the whodunit was a bit tough for me to follow at times, I got the gist of it, and it didn’t seem to me as if Walton was “reaching for it” as some writers of that genre sometimes do. On the contrary, the plot seems to evolve naturally from well-laid clues, events, and relations. But if the novel starts out as charming mystery shadowed by menace, it really comes into its own when the menace creeps toward the foreground. Then the work Walton has put in on her characters pays off, as both their heroism and their humanity surge to the fore as well.

If not a superb stylist, Walton is a very capable writer. She pays close attention to detail and seems to know her subject. Only occasionally does she seem to slip and let in some diction that doesn’t seem quite right for the time. It also seems a bit odd that so many of her characters have homosexual lovers—it enriches the story in various ways but it doesn’t seem quite credible. Of course, who’s to tell what 1949 might have been like under the circumstances Walton imagines?

I have to say I find alternate history a problematic genre. Typically, I don’t see the point. Here, though, the variation seems not such a stretch, and the consequences puncture the seemingly safe “couldn’t happen here” myth that we like to derive from the documents “guaranteeing” our freedom.
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May 21, 2012 John rated it 4 of 5 stars

Farthing is an engaging English cozy mystery -- only one that's set 9 years on into a very grim world where Britain made an accommodation with Hitler in 1940 rather than fight on alone. Lucy, the estranged daughter of Lord Eversley, is invited for a weekend at the titular estate of her father, along with many members of the "Farthing Set," the group of politicians (including her father) who concluded the peace nine years before. When one of the set is found murdered in his room, suspicion immedi...more

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Oct 14, 2011 Alan Zendell rated it 4 of 5 stars

"Farthing" reads like a traditional English mystery: it's deliberate, smart, and frustratingly paced, but that's the way such stories are told. It's post World War II England, but it's an England in which Britain surrendered to German occupation and administration, a sort of Vichy England.

This is a well-told murder mystery in which the prime suspect is a Jew in a country under the thumb of the Nazis. And therein lies the crux of the story. It's not just a well-told mystery, it's a look into the...more

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Apr 24, 2011 John rated it 5 of 5 stars

In an alternate world where Britain came to an "honourable" peace with Hitler in 1941, leaving the Reich in control of mainland Europe -- complete with extermination camps, whose existence is fully known by the Brits -- there's a murder during a weekend house party at Farthing, the ancestral seat of the Eversleys. Farthing has also given its name to the Farthing Set, a group of well placed, powerful, far-right politicians intent, although they insist their motives are the best, on bringing to Br...more In an alternate world where Britain came to an "honourable" peace with Hitler in 1941, leaving the Reich in control of mainland Europe -- complete with extermination camps, whose existence is fully known by the Brits -- there's a murder during a weekend house party at Farthing, the ancestral seat of the Eversleys. Farthing has also given its name to the Farthing Set, a group of well placed, powerful, far-right politicians intent, although they insist their motives are the best, on bringing to Britain the same hell that Hitler has created in the rest of Europe. For much of the length of this book we seem to be being treated to a cozy country house mystery, told, in alternate chapters, in the two standard modes for a cozy: a third-person narrative following the investigation of Inspector Carmichael of the Yard, and a first-person account by Lucy, daughter of the current Lord and Lady Eversley, and enough of a rebel to have married a Jew -- a revolting decision in a land where antisemitism is just a hairsbreadth from being fully institutionalized, with official persecution seemingly just around the corner. In especial, Lucy's crime is sufficient in her mother's eyes to make both she and her husband expendable, sacrificial lambs to be thrown to the cops to keep the investigation from uncovering too many home truths. By the book's end all the horrors of Walton's dystopia are not just revealed: we are, thanks to the wonderful empathy she builds up in us for Lucy and husband David, and for Inspector Carmichael -- who as a homosexual has his own worries in the repressive nightmare that is Britain -- right in the middle of the terror.

The cover strapline makes comparisons with Robert Harris's Fatherland and Philip Roth's The Plot Against America; the latter I haven't read, though I own a copy and must dig it out soon. The comparison with the former seems invalid, though. Harris's cop hero has acclimatized to operating under Nazi occupation, and, even as he resents it, is largely in acceptance of it. Lucy/David and Carmichael, however, are drawn progressively closer to the abyss, and know they are being drawn; they are given the stark choice of fleeing from its edge or acquiescing to the long, slowly accelerating fall.

As an aside, I was amused by one thing: After reading for several chapters, I thought, Lucy is really more of a Bunny than a Lucy, to be in the spirit of country house cozies. About four pages later Lucy revealed that her father's pet name for her was . . . Bunny.

This is a top-notch book that -- at the same time as being as compulsive a page-turner as you're likely to come across all year -- forces ethical considerations onto the page, so that the reader, like the tale's heroes, doesn't have the option of simply avoiding them but must engage with them, one way or the other.(less)

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Mar 17, 2011 Deb rated it 4 of 5 stars

Farthing is a neat blend of Golden-Age mystery, alternative history and political thriller. The story starts with the quintessential English country-house weekend, and you know immediately that someone's going to get offed. Our victim is Sir James Thirkie, who is found dead in a guest room with a yellow star pinned to his chest. The chief suspect is David Kahn, the Jewish husband of the daughter of the household, who presumably hated Thirkie's role in forging England's peace agreement with Hitle...more

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Sep 08, 2010 Paula rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: bought_in_2010, read_in_2010

Just when you think actual history was bad enough, Jo Walton tosses out an alternate history that is so much worse. Peace is made between England and Hitler, which allows Hitler to stay in power and leaves him the continent, but saves England. However, there is so much in the way of discrimination (of all kinds) that you realize the all out war was so much better in the long term.

This mystery was set in 1949, and while the author doesn't delve too deeply into the actual alternative history bit,...more

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Jun 09, 2010 Phil rated it 4 of 5 stars

Twenty-five years or so ago I read a series of books called The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. These books were my initial exposure to the concept of the antihero, a protagonist so unlikeable as to cause disgust or revulsion in the reader. I loved those stories at the same time I was repulsed by them. Today, in reading Farthing, though no such character exists, I found myself experiencing those same emotions as in my youth.

The story starts innocently enough, with the murder of a m...more

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Mar 09, 2010 Kalyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: completed-series

A frighteningly realistic alternate history book set in a world where Britain made peace with Hitler in 1941, certain people are actively persecuted on the European continent and heavily discriminated against in Britain (Jews, homosexuals, gypsies, etc.), and the easy descent into fascism and hate begins.

The murder mystery is the plot device but the really interesting development happens around its investigation. Lucy Eversley Kahn (daughter of highly placed political family who married a Jew) a...more

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About Jo Walton

Jo Walton writes science fiction and fantasy novels and reads a lot and eats great food. It worries her slightly that this is so exactly what she always wanted to do when she grew up. She comes from Wales, but lives in Montreal.

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Quotes from Farthing

“They hang people for murder, and while I didn't exactly like Mummy, she was my mother after all. Though do they hang Viscountesses?” — 3 people liked it

“Yet I felt he was innocent in a way I was not, that I knew more about evil than he ever could, because he had parents who loved him and wanted the best for him, while I had grown up with Mummy.” — 1 person liked it

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Farthing (Small Change #1)

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