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Fiction Alternative History

Farthing

by (author) Jo Walton

Publisher
Tor/Forge
Initial publish date
Aug 2006
Category
Alternative History
  • CD-Audio

    ISBN
    9781491582091
    Publish Date
    Nov 2014
    List Price
    $21.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780765323132
    Publish Date
    Mar 2013
    List Price
    $33.99
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780765314215
    Publish Date
    Aug 2006
    List Price
    $28.95

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Out of print

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Description

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, Lucy is married--happily--to a London Jew. It was therefore quite a surprise to Lucy when she and her husband David found themselves invited to the retreat. It's even more startling when, on the retreat's first night, a major politician of the Farthing set is found gruesomely murdered, with abundant signs that the killing was ritualistic.

It quickly becomes clear to Lucy that she and David were brought to the retreat in order to pin the murder on him. Major political machinations are at stake, including an initiative in Parliament, supported by the Farthing set, to limit the right to vote to university graduates. But whoever's behind the murder, and the frame-up, didn't reckon on the principal investigator from Scotland Yard being a man with very private reasons for sympathizing with outcastsâ?¦and looking beyond the obvious.

As the trap slowly shuts on Lucy and David, they begin to see a way out--a way fraught with peril in a darkening world.

About the author

Jo Walton has published thirteen novels, most recently Necessity. She has also published three poetry collections and an essay collection. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2002, the World Fantasy Award for Tooth and Claw in 2004, the Hugo and Nebula awards for Among Others in 2012,  and in 2014 both the Tiptree Award for My Real Children and the Locus Non Fiction award for What Makes This Book So Great. She comes from Wales but lives in Montreal where the food and books are much better. She gets bored easily so she tends to write books that are different from each other. She also reads a lot, enjoys travel, talking about books, and eating great food. She plans to live to be ninety-nine and write a book every year.

Jo Walton's profile page

Editorial Reviews

"If Le Carré scares you, try Jo Walton. Of course her brilliant story of a democracy selling itself out to fascism sixty years ago is just a mystery, just a thriller, just a fantasy--of course we know nothing like that could happen now. Don't we?"
--Ursula K. Le Guin onFarthing

"It really is one of those books that succeeds in almost too many ways to count. It's a great, engaging read, and sharp as a knife. The most meaningful parahistorical novel I've come across in a long time, succinct and rivetingly readable."
--Robert Charles Wilson onFarthing

"Farthing starts out as a cozy period house party mystery, becomes a brilliant alternate history yarn, and at last reveals itself to be a chilling political thriller. It's smart, riveting, and deeply moving. Once you start reading, don't plan to put it down."
--Emma Bull

"A wonderful book, simultaneously a gripping mystery and a harrowing cautionary tale. Walton's credible--and entirely convincing--alternative history becomes a terrifying meditation on class, power, and persecution."
--Susan Palwick onFarthing
"If Le Carré scares you, try Jo Walton.... brilliant."
"Succeeds in almost too many ways to count. It's a great, engaging read, and sharp as a knife."
"It's smart, riveting, and deeply moving. Once you start reading, don't plan to put it down."
"A wonderful book, simultaneously a gripping mystery and a harrowing cautionary tale."

"If Le Carré scares you, try Jo Walton. Of course her brilliant story of a democracy selling itself out to fascism sixty years ago is just a mystery, just a thriller, just a fantasy--of course we know nothing like that could happen now. Don't we?"
--Ursula K. Le Guin onFarthing

"It really is one of those books that succeeds in almost too many ways to count. It's a great, engaging read, and sharp as a knife. The most meaningful parahistorical novel I've come across in a long time, succinct and rivetingly readable."
--Robert Charles Wilson onFarthing

"Farthing starts out as a cozy period house party mystery, becomes a brilliant alternate history yarn, and at last reveals itself to be a chilling political thriller. It's smart, riveting, and deeply moving. Once you start reading, don't plan to put it down."
--Emma Bull

"A wonderful book, simultaneously a gripping mystery and a harrowing cautionary tale. Walton's credible--and entirely convincing--alternative history becomes a terrifying meditation on class, power, and persecution."
--Susan Palwick onFarthing
"If Le Carré scares you, try Jo Walton.... brilliant."
"Succeeds in almost too many ways to count. It's a great, engaging read, and sharp as a knife."
"It's smart, riveting, and deeply moving. Once you start reading, don't plan to put it down."
"A wonderful book, simultaneously a gripping mystery and a harrowing cautionary tale."

"If Le Carré scares you, try Jo Walton. Of course her brilliant story of a democracy selling itself out to fascism sixty years ago is just a mystery, just a thriller, just a fantasy--of course we know nothing like that could happen now. Don't we?"
--Ursula K. Le Guin onFarthing

"It really is one of those books that succeeds in almost too many ways to count. It's a great, engaging read, and sharp as a knife. The most meaningful parahistorical novel I've come across in a long time, succinct and rivetingly readable."
--Robert Charles Wilson onFarthing

"Farthing starts out as a cozy period house party mystery, becomes a brilliant alternate history yarn, and at last reveals itself to be a chilling political thriller. It's smart, riveting, and deeply moving. Once you start reading, don't plan to put it down."
--Emma Bull

"A wonderful book, simultaneously a gripping mystery and a harrowing cautionary tale. Walton's credible--and entirely convincing--alternative history becomes a terrifying meditation on class, power, and persecution."
--Susan Palwick onFarthing
"If Le Carré scares you, try Jo Walton.... brilliant."
"Succeeds in almost too many ways to count. It's a great, engaging read, and sharp as a knife."
"It's smart, riveting, and deeply moving. Once you start reading, don't plan to put it down."
"A wonderful book, simultaneously a gripping mystery and a harrowing cautionary tale."

"If Le Carré scares you, try Jo Walton. Of course her brilliant story of a democracy selling itself out to fascism sixty years ago is just a mystery, just a thriller, just a fantasy--of course we know nothing like that could happen now. Don't we?"
--Ursula K. Le Guin onFarthing

"It really is one of those books that succeeds in almost too many ways to count. It's a great, engaging read, and sharp as a knife. The most meaningful parahistorical novel I've come across in a long time, succinct and rivetingly readable."
--Robert Charles Wilson onFarthing

"Farthing starts out as a cozy period house party mystery, becomes a brilliant alternate history yarn, and at last reveals itself to be a chilling political thriller. It's smart, riveting, and deeply moving. Once you start reading, don't plan to put it down."
--Emma Bull

"A wonderful book, simultaneously a gripping mystery and a harrowing cautionary tale. Walton's credible--and entirely convincing--alternative history becomes a terrifying meditation on class, power, and persecution."
--Susan Palwick onFarthing
"If Le Carré scares you, try Jo Walton.... brilliant."
"Succeeds in almost too many ways to count. It's a great, engaging read, and sharp as a knife."
"It's smart, riveting, and deeply moving. Once you start reading, don't plan to put it down."
"A wonderful book, simultaneously a gripping mystery and a harrowing cautionary tale."

"If Le Carré scares you, try Jo Walton. Of course her brilliant story of a democracy selling itself out to fascism sixty years ago is just a mystery, just a thriller, just a fantasy--of course we know nothing like that could happen now. Don't we?"
--Ursula K. Le Guin onFarthing

"It really is one of those books that succeeds in almost too many ways to count. It's a great, engaging read, and sharp as a knife. The most meaningful parahistorical novel I've come across in a long time, succinct and rivetingly readable."
--Robert Charles Wilson onFarthing

"Farthing starts out as a cozy period house party mystery, becomes a brilliant alternate history yarn, and at last reveals itself to be a chilling political thriller. It's smart, riveting, and deeply moving. Once you start reading, don't plan to put it down."
--Emma Bull

"A wonderful book, simultaneously a gripping mystery and a harrowing cautionary tale. Walton's credible--and entirely convincing--alternative history becomes a terrifying meditation on class, power, and persecution."
--Susan Palwick onFarthing
"If Le Carré scares you, try Jo Walton.... brilliant."
"Succeeds in almost too many ways to count. It's a great, engaging read, and sharp as a knife."
"It's smart, riveting, and deeply moving. Once you start reading, don't plan to put it down."
"A wonderful book, simultaneously a gripping mystery and a harrowing cautionary tale."

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