Farthing by Jo Walton
Twelve people attended this meeting at A.T.’s house. Our topic was Farthing, an alternate history set in England in the 1940s. In the world of this book, the US never entered World War II, leading to Germany taking control of continental Europe and signing a peace treaty with the United Kingdom. At a weekend gathering of the rich and powerful at an English country estate, a prominent politician is killed. The plot of the book revolves around the murder investigation. Only one of us had read Walton before. Ten of us started the book, and nine finished it.
A few readers felt that the alternate history element was the book’s strongest feature. They felt the theme of this book was how much people will take and let happen. They noted the book’s deliberate references to The Man in the High