Before Jo Walton won the Hugo and Nebula Awards for her stunning Among Others, she published a trilogy set in a dark alternate postwar England that had negotiated “Peace with Honor” with Nazi Germany in 1941. These novels—Farthing, Ha’penny, and Half a Crown—are connected by common threads, but can be read in any order.
In Ha’penny, England has completed its slide into fascist dicatorship. The last hopes of democracy seem extinguished. Then a bomb explodes in a London suburb.
The brilliant but 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 the Prime Minister and his ally, Adolf Hitler.
Against a background of domestic espionage and suppression, a band of idealists blackmails an actress who holds the key to the Fuhrer's death. From the ha'penny seats in the theatre to the ha'pennys that cover dead men's eyes, the conspiracy and the investigation swirl inexorably to a stunning conclusion.
About the Author
JO WALTON won the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 2012 for her novel Among Others. Before that, she won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and her novel Tooth and Claw won the World Fantasy Award in 2004. The novels of her Small Change sequence—Farthing, Ha'penny, and Half a Crown—have won acclaim ranging from national newspapers to the Romantic Times Critics' Choice Award. A native of Wales, she lives in Montreal.
Industry Reviews
"Stellar... Horrifying and all-too-possible." --RT Book Reviews, Top Pick! on Ha'penny
"Walton's use of a common genre template--this time the race-against-time thriller--allows her to develop the eerily contemporary underpinnings of her alternate history.... Gives us much to think about regarding her world and our own." --Sarah Weinman, The Los Angeles Times on Ha'penny
"[Farthing and Ha'penny] are compulsively readable for their characters and plots. But it's [Walton's] observations about power that make them hard to put down." --Baltimore City Paper
"Masterful work.... This is political suspense at its best and brightest." --Bookslut.com Stellar Horrifying and all-too-possible. "RT Book Reviews, Top Pick! on Ha'penny"
Walton's use of a common genre template--this time the race-against-time thriller--allows her to develop the eerily contemporary underpinnings of her alternate history . Gives us much to think about regarding her world and our own. "Sarah Weinman, The Los Angeles Times on Ha'penny"
[Farthing and Ha'penny] are compulsively readable for their characters and plots. But it's [Walton's] observations about power that make them hard to put down. "Baltimore City Paper"
Masterful work . This is political suspense at its best and brightest. "Bookslut.com"" "Stellar... Horrifying and all-too-possible."
--"RT Book Reviews", Top Pick! on "Ha'penny"
"Walton's use of a common genre template--this time the race-against-time thriller--allows her to develop the eerily contemporary underpinnings of her alternate history.... Gives us much to think about regarding her world and our own."
--Sarah Weinman, "The Los Angeles Times" on "Ha'penny"
"[Farthing and Ha'penny] are compulsively readable for their characters and plots. But it's [Walton's] observations about power that make them hard to put down."
--"Baltimore City Paper"
"Masterful work.... This is political suspense at its best and brightest."
--"Bookslut.com" "Like meticulously nested Matroyshka dolls, both "Farthing" and "Ha'Penny" reveal complex arguments layered in their elegantly structured narratives." --Sarah Weinman, "Los Angeles"" Times
""A literary "Guernica"--a top-notch thriller set in a terrified Britain that is all too willing to trade freedom for security, and which gets neither." --Cory Doctorow on "Ha'Penny" "Like meticulously nested Matroyshka dolls, both "Farthing" and "Ha'Penny" reveal complex arguments layered in their elegantly structured narratives." -Sarah Weinman, "Los Angeles"" Times
""A literary "Guernica"-a top-notch thriller set in a terrified Britain that is all too willing to trade freedom for security, and which gets neither." -Cory Doctorow on "Ha'Penny" "Like meticulously nested Matroyshka dolls, both "Farthing" and "Ha'Penny" reveal complex arguments layered in their elegantly structured narratives." --Sarah Weinman, "Los Angeles"" Times
""A literary "Guernica"--a top-notch thriller set in a terrified Britain that is all too willing to trade freedom for security, and which gets neither." --Cory Doctorow on "Ha'Penny" "Stunningly powerful.While the whodunit plot is compelling, it's the convincing portrait of a country's incremental slide into fascism that makes this novel a standout. Mainstream readers should be enthralled as well." --"Publishers Weekly" (starred review) on "Farthing"
"If le Carre scares you, try Jo Walton." --Ursula K. Le Guin on "Farthing"
"A stiff-upper-lip whodunit boasting political intrigue and uncomfortable truths about anti-Semitism." --"Entertainment Weekly"
"Packs a considerable wallop." --"Kirkus Reviews"
"Amazing. One of the most compelling and chilling books of the year." --"Romantic Times BookReviews" " Stunningly powerful.While the whodunit plot is compelling, it ' s the convincing portrait of a country ' s incremental slide into fascism that makes this novel a standout. Mainstream readers should be enthralled as well. " -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Farthing
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" If le Carr e scares you, try Jo Walton. " --Ursula K. Le Guin on Farthing
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" A stiff-upper-lip whodunit boasting political intrigue and uncomfortable truths about anti-Semitism. " -- Entertainment Weekly
& nbsp;
" Packs a considerable wallop. " -- Kirkus Reviews
& nbsp;
" Amazing. One of the most compelling and chilling books of the year. " -- Romantic Times BookReviews " Stunningly powerful.While the whodunit plot is compelling, it' s the convincing portrait of a country' s incremental slide into fascism that makes this novel a standout. Mainstream readers should be enthralled as well." --"Publishers Weekly" (starred review) on "Farthing"
" If le Carre scares you, try Jo Walton." --Ursula K. Le Guin on "Farthing"
" A stiff-upper-lip whodunit boasting political intrigue and uncomfortable truths about anti-Semitism." --"Entertainment Weekly"
" Packs a considerable wallop." --"Kirkus Reviews"
" Amazing. One of the most compelling and chilling books of the year." --"Romantic Times BookReviews"
