Farthing

Liked this so much more than Parrish's last book [b:The Remaking of Corbin Wale 36359430 The Remaking of Corbin Wale Roan Parrish https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1508453783l/36359430.SY75.jpg 58042835] - it felt so much more like a romance among equals. Loved the fact that it took place in my favorite city, Philadelphia, loved that Ginger was such a bad-ass Jewish queer woman, loved the way Christopher was wonderful without being annoyingly perfect. Especially loved the dig against cinnamon bagels (which have no reason to exist and are an insult to real bagels everywhere). The only complaint I had was that the arc of Ginger and Christopher's love story was completely predictable, right down to the argument that almost breaks them up. Parrish does so many wonderfully original things with this plot, it seemed like a cop out to not throw in a surprise or two.I don't know if Parrish planned to write Ginger's story when she introduced her and Christopher as secondary characters in [b:In the Middle of Somewhere 25687508 In the Middle of Somewhere (Middle of Somewhere, #1) Roan Parrish https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1433927277l/25687508.SY75.jpg 45515563], but I'm very glad she took on the new challenge of writing M/F. Plus we get to see more of the couple in [b:Invitation to the Blues 38510053 Invitation to the Blues (Small Change, #2) Roan Parrish https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1520522172l/38510053.SY75.jpg 60147880], featuring Christopher's troubled brother Jude and Ginger's mysterious new tattoo artist Faron.

This was an absolutely brilliantly written work of speculative fiction, looking at a world where Britain and Germany reached a peace agreement in 1941, and the after-effects that that change might have. As you might expect from that premise, this provides rich soil for speculation on the toxicity of evil, on the compromising nature of politics, and on environments that allow prejudice and bigotry to thrive.

What makes Farthing stand above much of the rest of the crowd in the genre, though, is that while all that stuff is there, it's all in the background. Walton puts a murder mystery at the centre of the story, and while that plot intertwines with the thematic elements, it always stays interesting enough that our thoughts are always with the actions of Carmichael and the Khan family rather than getting too far into speculative navel gazing.

It can't happen here
this is a decent country
that's what they all say.

4.5

I'm still not cool with alt-history but I do love Jo Walton's style very much. This is a fairly cozy British whodunit, with an intrigue tackling broader social and political issues. I'll read the next one, but not in a hurry.

Spoiler warning. I could not put this book down for long after I got about a third into it. starting as an alt history book, it becomes a murder mystery soon, only to turn into a warning about fascism towards the end.

I found myself wishing for the longest time that it would still find a happy ending somehow, but alas. And it isn't even Herr Hitler's fault.

Definitely going to pick up the other books in the series.