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Interregnum: Being a Record of the February Rising, by General Sir Max Quick Chief of the Imperial General Staff, KCB, CBE, DSO and Bar
Interregnum offers an alternative history of the country's--and Winston Churchill's--finest hour.
1946. Britain is occupied by Nazi Germany. All seems lost--until the February Rising sees off Hitler. The Fuhrer's death triggers a struggle for power among the Nazis, revolt across the Occupied Continent, and schism in the Oval Office in Washington.
Caught in this maelstrom are the teenage princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. For Churchill, what price the lives of the two women, first and second in line to the throne, weighed against the threat of an atom bomb poised to destroy New York?
There's a Tolstoyan cast including the princesses themselves, their uncle Edward VIII, Wallis Simpson, President Roosevelt, the Kennedy family and sundry Air Chief Marshals, Field Marshals and First Sea Lords.
As to the plot, this triple-decked thriller, detective story and literary Ludo keeps its readers guessing until the very last word.
1946. Britain is occupied by Nazi Germany. All seems lost--until the February Rising sees off Hitler. The Fuhrer's death triggers a struggle for power among the Nazis, revolt across the Occupied Continent, and schism in the Oval Office in Washington.
Caught in this maelstrom are the teenage princesses Elizabeth and Margaret. For Churchill, what price the lives of the two women, first and second in line to the throne, weighed against the threat of an atom bomb poised to destroy New York?
There's a Tolstoyan cast including the princesses themselves, their uncle Edward VIII, Wallis Simpson, President Roosevelt, the Kennedy family and sundry Air Chief Marshals, Field Marshals and First Sea Lords.
As to the plot, this triple-decked thriller, detective story and literary Ludo keeps its readers guessing until the very last word.
239 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 28, 2020
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 9, 2020
I got Interregnum by Jim Ring from Netagalley for a fair and honest review
I requested Interregnum from Netgalley has I have always enjoyed books that either tried to change history or are straight alternative history story.
This novel is set in the UK in 1946, in an alternative time line where the Germans invaded and conquered Britain, at the start of the war. Ruling Britain is Heydrich and under him Edward Mosley, even thought King George VI and his wife, along with Winston Churchill, have escaped to Canada. However The Germans Have Returned Edward VIII along with his wife on the thrown, and are holding the heir princess Elizabeth and her and her sister princess Margaret
When the Germans finely beat the Soviet Union after hitting Moscow a number of times with the V rockets To celebrate this victory the, Germans hold a parade in London which Hitler attends and his blown and killed.
This story is written as a memoir of General Sir Max Quick, chief of the imperial general staff, of the British army under the German occupiers. This style made the novel more like reading something from the history section of the library rather than a novel. While this style gave the book a gravitas that a normal alternative history novel did, the downside was that it seemed stuffy and dry to read.
The plot of the book with the Leadership of the Third Rich coming apart as soon as Hitler died seemed possible, however why was he in London to mark victory over the Soviet Union, is something that grated on me.
What the book did well though is one of the things that I enjoy when I read alternative history book, which is looking for the real historical figures and seeing how the author fits them in to this new world, and in this way I think the author did a good job.
This is one of those books for me that the idea was much better than the writing, in my opinion, as the way it was written as a memoir, was not something I enjoyed as it seemed dry to me, However if you are a person who likes reading autobiographies of famous generals of World War II, then this would be something that I think you would enjoy. In addition if you like alternative history novels then still give this one a try as Jim Ring as written a realistic one in Interregnum.
I requested Interregnum from Netgalley has I have always enjoyed books that either tried to change history or are straight alternative history story.
This novel is set in the UK in 1946, in an alternative time line where the Germans invaded and conquered Britain, at the start of the war. Ruling Britain is Heydrich and under him Edward Mosley, even thought King George VI and his wife, along with Winston Churchill, have escaped to Canada. However The Germans Have Returned Edward VIII along with his wife on the thrown, and are holding the heir princess Elizabeth and her and her sister princess Margaret
When the Germans finely beat the Soviet Union after hitting Moscow a number of times with the V rockets To celebrate this victory the, Germans hold a parade in London which Hitler attends and his blown and killed.
This story is written as a memoir of General Sir Max Quick, chief of the imperial general staff, of the British army under the German occupiers. This style made the novel more like reading something from the history section of the library rather than a novel. While this style gave the book a gravitas that a normal alternative history novel did, the downside was that it seemed stuffy and dry to read.
The plot of the book with the Leadership of the Third Rich coming apart as soon as Hitler died seemed possible, however why was he in London to mark victory over the Soviet Union, is something that grated on me.
What the book did well though is one of the things that I enjoy when I read alternative history book, which is looking for the real historical figures and seeing how the author fits them in to this new world, and in this way I think the author did a good job.
This is one of those books for me that the idea was much better than the writing, in my opinion, as the way it was written as a memoir, was not something I enjoyed as it seemed dry to me, However if you are a person who likes reading autobiographies of famous generals of World War II, then this would be something that I think you would enjoy. In addition if you like alternative history novels then still give this one a try as Jim Ring as written a realistic one in Interregnum.
did-not-finish
August 23, 2020there is no focus to the narrative i was on 3rd chapter before i realised it was an alternative history. It is fragmented and unreadable
August 4, 2020
Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this for an honest review.
Ok so I picked this one up because one of my favourite things is history surrounding WWII. I think I know lots about it and so a book based on alternative historical events I thought would be such a perfect read for me. It seems I don’t know enough!
Interregnum is based in 1946, with Britain being occupied by the Nazi regime, Churchill and the King have fled to Canada and the princesses Margaret and Elizabeth are being kept prisoner in the Tower of London. That is until the February rising where Hitler is assassinated and the Nazi empire struggle to keep control of their empire.
Sounds great right!?
However, for me the story was great in principle but in writing it was just a bit lacking! Hitler was assassinated pretty early in the book and it became a story of just following the princesses about the world whilst they are passed from nation to nation. Honestly no idea what was going on. Then all of a sudden we are at Faslane getting an atomic bomb as well as the princesses. Totally confused!
I do think this might be my own issue though! The book is written as a memoir type which makes it feel very authentic as if it is an actual piece of historical literature. However, because of this I thought it was very hard to follow! Also, I know lots about history but nothing about the types of boats, planes and other vehicles which may be used. And these were spoken about A LOT! Maybe too much actually!
Simply put... too much detail not enough plot! There was a love story also that I just kind of missed! I will say that if you can understand these things you may enjoy it... as there does seem to be a lot of action! It just got lost in things I don’t understand! It’s a bit of a very niche reading group I would say; and surprisingly I am not a part of it.
Ok so I picked this one up because one of my favourite things is history surrounding WWII. I think I know lots about it and so a book based on alternative historical events I thought would be such a perfect read for me. It seems I don’t know enough!
Interregnum is based in 1946, with Britain being occupied by the Nazi regime, Churchill and the King have fled to Canada and the princesses Margaret and Elizabeth are being kept prisoner in the Tower of London. That is until the February rising where Hitler is assassinated and the Nazi empire struggle to keep control of their empire.
Sounds great right!?
However, for me the story was great in principle but in writing it was just a bit lacking! Hitler was assassinated pretty early in the book and it became a story of just following the princesses about the world whilst they are passed from nation to nation. Honestly no idea what was going on. Then all of a sudden we are at Faslane getting an atomic bomb as well as the princesses. Totally confused!
I do think this might be my own issue though! The book is written as a memoir type which makes it feel very authentic as if it is an actual piece of historical literature. However, because of this I thought it was very hard to follow! Also, I know lots about history but nothing about the types of boats, planes and other vehicles which may be used. And these were spoken about A LOT! Maybe too much actually!
Simply put... too much detail not enough plot! There was a love story also that I just kind of missed! I will say that if you can understand these things you may enjoy it... as there does seem to be a lot of action! It just got lost in things I don’t understand! It’s a bit of a very niche reading group I would say; and surprisingly I am not a part of it.
July 26, 2024
Alternative histories - or virtual histories - were 'big' in the 1990s. Allowing facto-fictions to bleed and merge, a chronological narrative history is cut up, shredded and re-sewn.
This is an intriguing structure of an 'unpublished memoir' of Max Quick, with a framing preface and prologue by Jim Ring. An intriguing fictional ruse, the narrative explores what happened when the Nazis invaded Britain and a resistance arose. The historical characters are present. (Then) Princess Elizabeth, Churchill, the Duke and Duchess of Winsor.
It is a solid alternative facto-fiction. I was most impressed by the alternative Churchillian tactics to remove the Nazis.
But - perhaps - the moment of these alternative histories has now gone. Too many of the facts in our present are highly fictional.
This is an intriguing structure of an 'unpublished memoir' of Max Quick, with a framing preface and prologue by Jim Ring. An intriguing fictional ruse, the narrative explores what happened when the Nazis invaded Britain and a resistance arose. The historical characters are present. (Then) Princess Elizabeth, Churchill, the Duke and Duchess of Winsor.
It is a solid alternative facto-fiction. I was most impressed by the alternative Churchillian tactics to remove the Nazis.
But - perhaps - the moment of these alternative histories has now gone. Too many of the facts in our present are highly fictional.
November 15, 2020
Wow! What an astonishing book. It had me gripped from the get go. Very cleverly it starts out with the newly found documents of a WW2 general mentioning one or two things that made me think 'ooh, I never knew that happened, how interesting' before I realised that I was reading the alternative history, but by then I was hooked. No going back. Although I read it over a weekend, it was only probably a few hours. Not my usual kind of book at all, but I was completely engrossed.
August 10, 2020
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Great story line but poo execution. This was written in the style of 'The Third World War' by Sir John Hackett and the earlier 'The Invasion of 1910' by William Tufnell Le Queux. These stories need to move along briskly and this one did not. Some harsh editing would do wonders for this book.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews