Jo Walton’s FARTHING made my best of 2006 list, and we can put her new HA’PENNY on the short list for the same honor in 2008. Walton’s world is parahistorical – an alternate version of the outcome of World War II, in which America became isolationist and thus, did not get involved in the conflict. And Britain went the appeasement route, agreeing to a peace so it would not be invaded. Nazi Germany has free rein over the continent, and its only active enemy is Russia.
This arrangement has seriously poisoned the mores of the British realm. Jews and homosexuals are actively discriminated against, and there is a strong sense of denial about what is happening. Atrocities are rumored, but not everyone believes they occur. And since Britain is at peace, it is much easier to say and do nothing, then to risk war.
Just as in the earlier book, we explore this world through two different characters, with one chapter written in first-person from the view of actress Viola Larkin, alternating with a third-person viewpoint of Scotland Yard Inspector Carmichael. Viola is a sweet young flibbertigibbet – a serious actress, but someone who is unconcerned with the outer world and disdainful of politics. Carmichael is a compromised character. His bosses know that he is a homosexual, and this would mean instant dismissal from the force, if he weren’t so damn effective. And since they can keep him employed while on a short leash, this is the poor inspector’s fate.
The connecting thread between these two characters is a performance of HAMLET. One of the play’s actors is found dead, a homemade bomb having gone off in her house. Unbeknownst to Carmichael, the woman had been planning to assassinate both British PM Mark Normanby and Adolf Hitler, both of whom are scheduled to be in attendance at the play’s opening.
Unbeknownst to Viola, her sister Cressida was deeply involved in this plot, and she shortly convinces Viola to join the conspiracy and continue the operation of this joint assassination. As each chapter unfolds, we get closer and closer to what could be the defining moment of both Britain and Germany.
Walton writes well, with a natural, lively style and a knack for portraying realistic behavior and believable conversation. But where she truly shines is in revealing the layers of benign evil present in the human race. Her characters pride themselves on their behavior, and then lump Jews and homosexuals together as part of a group of anarchists and terrorists, more than willing to send them back to the continent, a blind eye turned to their eventual fate.
But what’s really clever here is that this is not a preachy, polemical work. It’s interesting to me that both left-of-center and right-of-center commentators across the web have taken to Walton’s works. Leftists can point to the slow incursion of 1984-style government invasion of privacy with things like identity papers and increased levels of jackbooted security, and right-wingers can point to the perceived failure of appeasement and the subtle fascism that results from the continuation of such a policy.
The real conclusion here is that we should be very goddamn thankful for men such as Winston Churchill and those who supported him, for they put the fruits of our civilization on the line, and refused to bow down to the evil that was Nazism (and you can read whatever other fundamentalist screed you like in this space).
Walton’s characters value peace at all costs, and their smug acceptance of their own security leaves them indifferent to the plight of others. This could be tedious in a fictional work, but Walton is so subtle at plying this effect – so silky smooth in how she showcases the little evils that add up to a big evil – that it makes HA’PENNY just as remarkable a work as FARTHING, and the series an example of the best that mysteries have to offer.
This isn’t quite as good as the first book, in that Viola’s transformation from vapid ingenue to potential martyr for the cause, seems rushed and unlikely. But no matter, as this is another wonderful work from Walton and I can’t wait for the next. Highly recommended. –Mark Rose
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• FARTHING by Jo Walton
