Ha'penny (original 2007; edition 2008)

by Jo Walton

Series: Small Change (2)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
765	51	29,183	(3.85)	110
Fiction. Mystery. Historical Fiction. HTML: In 1949, eight years after the "Peace with Honor" was negotiated between Great Britain and Nazi Germany by the Farthing Set, England has completed its slide into fascist dicatorship. Then a bomb explodes in a London suburb. /> The brilliant but politically compromised Inspector Carmichael of Scotland Yard is assigned the case. What he finds leads him to a conspiracy of peers and communists, of staunch King-and- Country patriots and hardened IRA gunmen, to murder Britain's Prime Minister and his new ally, Adolf Hitler. Against a background of increasing domestic espionage and the suppression of Jews and homosexuals, an ad-hoc band of idealists and conservatives blackmail the one person they need to complete their plot, an actress who lives for her art and holds the key to the Fuhrer's death. From the ha'penny seats in the theatre to the ha'pennies that cover dead men's eyes, the conspiracy and the investigation swirl around one another, spinning beyond anyone's control. In this brilliant companion to Farthing, Welsh-born World Fantasy Award winner Jo Walton continues her alternate history of an England that could have been, with a novel that is both an homage of the classic detective novels of the thirties and forties, and an allegory of the world we live in today. .… (more)

▾Book information

Member:	sbisson
Title:	Ha'penny
Authors:	Jo Walton
Info:	Tor Books (2008), Edition: Reprint, Mass Market Paperback, 336 pages
Collections:	Your library, Our Books
Rating:
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Work Information

Ha'penny by Jo Walton (2007)

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Showing 1-5 of 51 (next | show all)

En 1949, ocho años después de que el círculo de Farthing negociara la «Paz con Honor» entre Gran Bretaña y la Alemania nazi, Inglaterra ha completado su deriva hacia una dictadura fascista. Cuando el infame Mark Normanby apro-vecha un asesinato político para organizar su elección como primer ministro, las últimas esperanzas para la democracia parecen agotarse.
Entonces explota una bomba en un área residencial de Londres. El inspector Carmichael, de Scotland Yard, un hombre brillante aunque sometido a presiones políticas, se encarga de llevar el caso. Lo que averigua lo lleva hasta una conspiración por parte de nobles y comunistas, de leales adeptos al rey y a la patria y de implacables pistoleros del ira, para asesinar a Normanby y a su nuevo aliado, Adolf Hitler.

libreriarofer | Sep 8, 2023 |

Solid story, and I like something in her writing, some kind of deceptive simplicity, that works so well for this topic. My worry in the first book was that she wouldn't justify the invocation of fascism - I think there are many books set in the WWII era that use the setting merely as a plot device, which is vile. But Walton builds slowly to show the gradual normalization of terrifying things, and all of that combines to find new ways to pierce perception and promote insight. I don't know, I guess I'm saying this might get through to someone who hasn't figured it out yet, and if one more person learns to stand up to fascism, then it's worth it. (

)

Kiramke | Jun 27, 2023 |

In 1949 in an alternate England where the government made peace with Hitler’s Germany following the Blitz, a young actress gets caught up in a plot to kill Hitler. It’s Inspector Carmichael of Scotland Yard’s job to foil the assassination plot, even though the fascist government threatens his private life with his partner, Jack, and the lives of his Jewish colleagues. Walton imagines a theatre world where cross-casting is in fashion, and the actress at the heart of the plot has been cast as Hamlet in a production that Hitler and the Prime Minister will attend on opening night. The actress, Violet Lark, is one of the six Larkin sisters, who bear more than a slight resemblance to the real-life Mitford sisters. The unpredictable plot kept me in suspense right up to the final page. (

)

cbl_tn | Jun 18, 2023 |

What a piece of crap. Static crap. Talky talk and nothing else.

Oh hey, yeah, sure, a bomb exploded - before the story even started! And then until the middle of the book nothing else happens but talk talk talk. So stupid boring.

Didn't finish. (

)

cwebb | May 19, 2023 |

In some ways I feel a bit mean giving this a 3 as it left me wanting to read the next one. It wasn't quite as good as the first one in terms of plot and characters. As it takes up immediately where Farthing leaves off the situation and setting haven't evolved much, though there were plenty of hints thrown in as to how things are going - not well, but in a very convincing way, which I think is the great strength of this trilogy. The ending was exciting with some unexpected surprises. (

)

MochaVonBee | Jan 21, 2023 |

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▾Other authors

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Jo Walton	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Lachmann, Nora	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
O'Neill, Heather	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
s.BENeš	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Series

Small Change (2)

Belongs to Publisher Series

Gallimard, Folio SF (582)

▾Awards and Honors

Awards

Gaylactic Spectrum Award (Shortlist – Novel – 2008)

Lambda Literary Award (Finalist – LGBT Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror – 2007)

Prometheus Award (Winner – Novel – 2008)

Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award (Nominee – SF)

Sidewise Award (Finalist – Long Form – 2007)

Sunburst Award (Honourable Mention – Adult – 2008)

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Canonical title

Original title

Ha'penny

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

World War II (1939 | 1945)

Related movies

Epigraph

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat

Please put a penny in the old man's hat.

If you haven't got a penny, a ha'penny will do,

If you haven't got a ha'penny, then God bless you!

-Traditional British children's rhyme

"When I was a lad," replied the foreman, "young ladies was young ladies. And young gentleman was young gentlemen. If you get my meaning."

"What this country wants" said Padgett "is a 'Itler."

- Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night (1935)

Dedication

This is for Tom Womack, of Winchester, Oxford, and Ploktacon, who has the courage of his convictions.

First words

They don't hang people like me.

Quotations

He had learned from the Farthing Set that you couldn't just change things from the outside, you had to change how people felt. If people stopped being afraid, they'd get rid of the dictators for themselves.

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Nielsen Hayden, Patrick

Blurbers

Doctorow, Cory

Wilson, Robert Charles

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (2)

Ha'penny (novel)

Small Change trilogy

▾Book descriptions

Fiction. Mystery. Historical Fiction. HTML:

In 1949, eight years after the "Peace with Honor" was negotiated between Great Britain and Nazi Germany by the Farthing Set, England has completed its slide into fascist dicatorship. Then a bomb explodes in a London suburb.

The brilliant but politically compromised Inspector Carmichael of Scotland Yard is assigned the case. What he finds leads him to a conspiracy of peers and communists, of staunch King-and- Country patriots and hardened IRA gunmen, to murder Britain's Prime Minister and his new ally, Adolf Hitler.

Against a background of increasing domestic espionage and the suppression of Jews and homosexuals, an ad-hoc band of idealists and conservatives blackmail the one person they need to complete their plot, an actress who lives for her art and holds the key to the Fuhrer's death. From the ha'penny seats in the theatre to the ha'pennies that cover dead men's eyes, the conspiracy and the investigation swirl around one another, spinning beyond anyone's control.

In this brilliant companion to Farthing, Welsh-born World Fantasy Award winner Jo Walton continues her alternate history of an England that could have been, with a novel that is both an homage of the classic detective novels of the thirties and forties, and an allegory of the world we live in today.

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